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HOP CULTURE 



IN THE 



UNITED STATES 

BEING A 

PRACTICAL TREATISE ON 

Hop Iqi^oWing in Washington Tewitoi' j, 

FROM THE CUTTING TO THE BALE, 



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^J E. MEEKER 



WITH FIFTEEN YEARS' EXPERIENCE OF THE AUTHOR, GIVING 
MINUTE INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO PLANT, CUL- 
TIVATE AND CURE THE CROP: 
TOGETHER WITH 
ELABORATE AND GENERAL STATISTICS OF THE HOP TRADE OF 
THE WORLD, COST OF PRODUCTION, HOW TO START A 
HOP YARD, BEST MODE OF PRESERVING HOPS ; 
WITH A SYNOPSIS OF ENGLISH AND 
GERMAN METHODS. 
To which is added an exhaustive article from the pen of 
W. A. LAWRENCE, Esq., 
Waterville, N. K, on Hop Raising in New York State. 

,V OF. CO,vG?>v 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 



(' JUN 23 1B83 ^ 



PUBLISHED BY 

PuYALLUP, Washington Territorv. 



Price, $1.50- 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by 

E. MEEKER, 

In the Clerk's Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



'' _.■ \ ^- 




PREFACE. 

i'HE high value of hops prevaiHng for the past 
four years, culminating in the unprecedented 
price of one dollar per pound for the crop of 
1882, has naturally attracted a wide-spread interest. 
An article that can be produced in large quantities, 
and sold for nearly ten-fold its cost, engenders a spec- 
ulative feeling akin to that of a veritable gold-mining 
furore of the palmy days of '49, when the discovery of 
gold in California was first made known to the multi- 
tude. Then, as now, the few amassed fortunes ; this 
was speedily followed by the sore disappointment of 
the many who rushed into the mines unprepared and 
inexperienced. Such results, it is feared, may follow 
those who attempt to engage in hop culture, without 
knowledge or means, or both, and without first 
thoroughly investigating the new business proposed. 

That hop-growing in the United States is profitable, 
if conducted with intelligence and care, none can 
doubt. We have abundant proof of the fact by the 
success of those who through a series of years have 
stuck to the business through thick and thin, always 
producing a good article and prudently placing it upon 
the market. That it will pay in the future, taking a 
series of years, is patent to every observing mind, but 
to those only who will move up to the head of the 
list, and produce the best quality. No product of the 
farm known has so wide a difference in value, be- 
tween the highest and lowest grades, as hops ; a dif- 
ference frequently equal to the cost of production ; 
none are so susceptible to injury by mismanagement 
or disease ; none are so utterly worthless when not 
properly prepared or not wanted for the use intended; 

(3) 



none are so limited to a single use or so variable in 
yield ; hence, the violent Huctuations in price, and con- 
sequent loss in years of plenty and over-production, or 
in cases of inferior quality from whatever cause. 

Having gone through the ordeal of gaining his 
knowledge of the hop business by keen^ dear-bought, 
actual experience without a guide to rely on, the 
author appreciates and can testify as to the difficulties 
that beset the new beginner, sealed as that experience 
was by heavy financial loss to himself and neighbors. 
None of the pioneers of the Puyallup valley had the 
remotest knowledge upon the subject of hop-growing, 
until the small beginning was made to raise them for 
market in the year 1866. The result was that many 
thousands of pounds were lost and totally perished in 
consequence of inexperienced management; many 
hundreds of tons injured from the same cause, bring- 
ing great numbers to the verge of bankruptcy and 
some to complete financial ruin. 

This treatise is not published with a view to induce 
people to embark in the business of hop-raising, but 
for the purpose of enabling those that contemplate 
engaging in, or are already in it, to avoid the mis- 
takes of the early pioneers, and save them from great 
loss, thereby benefiting all in the business by build- 
ing up such a reputation for the hops as their natural 
growth deserve. 

The export trade can be greatly increased if the 
standard of quality is raised and kept up to the point 
our growth will warrant, and in the form of hop-ex- 
tract as well as with hops in the bale, take possession 
of the great English markets with other American 
products. 

E. M. 
Puyallup, W. T., 

April, 1883. 




CHAPTER I. 

THE CLIMATE, SOIL, LOCATION AND FORMATION OF THE 
HOP REGION OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 

p^HE valley land of the Puget sound basin, or western 
Washington Territory, is singularly well adapted for 
raising hops, always producing a certain crop, a heavy 
yield and uniform extra choice quality. None of the pioneers 
in hop-growing, in Washington Territory, knew anything of the 
business ; many of them had never seen a hop-vine growing be- 
fore the planting in the Puyallup valley, of about half an acre 
in the spring' of 1866. 

The writer first engaged in the business two years later, planting 
a couple of acres, and raised the first year a few hundred pounds. 
The yard has gradually been enlarged, until his crop-yield of 
1882, was more than seventy-one tons, giving the Puyallup valley 
the banner crop, as to quantity, of any in the United States, and 
as claimed by some, in the world. 

A short description of the soil, climate, resources and location 
of this now famous region, will doubdess be interesting to non- 
resident readers. It is a region underlaid with coal, and is to the 
Pacific coast, what Pennsylvania is to the Atlantic seaboard. 

Words cannot convey an adequate idea of the immensity of 
the timber supply or of its value. Lime and iron are found in 
abundant quantities and in convenient localities. Fish abound in 
the waters of Puget Sound and the numerous rivers emptying into 
it. Game is abundant and affords rare sport for the hunters ; 
coupled with this is the equable climate, never excessively cold 
in winter, or hot in summer and always healthful. 

The Puget sound basin lies between two mountain ranges, 
running parallel with the Pacific coast and about seventy miles 
apart, one the Coast, and the other the Cascade range. Each in 
many places touch the perpetual snow line, and one peak, 
Mt. Ranier, more prominent than many others, is the source 
of seven rivers, being nearly three miles high, with a base of 
over thirty miles in diameter. 
(5) 



The Puyallup, one of these rivers, is about fifty miles in length, 
and near its mouth is two hundred feet wide, and from three to 
seven feet deep, with a rapid current. There are a number of 
like rivers emptying into Puget sound, all forming rich valleys, 
adjacent to tide-water. The soil is a rich alluvial deposit, known 
to be one hundred and forty-four feet deep in the writer's hop 
yard, where -years ago an attempt was made to sink an artesian 
well, and is exceedingly rich and fertile. There is no subsoil, 
the hop-roots penetrate deep into the soil and to moisture. In 
ditching through the hop-yard we found hop-roots very abundant 
at four feet from the surface, and roots nine feet long have been 
seen where exposed by the wash of the river bank. 

As before mentioned, the great mountain, Ranier, is the source 
of the Puyallup river. Adventurous spirits have followed the 
stream up to the perpetual snow line to ascertain from whence came 
this milky-w^hite turbid water, for fully ten months of the year, 
and were repaid for their toil by the sight denied to the many, of 
the actual live work of the glazier in the mountain gorge. Issuing 
from under a vast body of ice, these explorers followed the river 
in the ice-cavern until only a small speck of light was visible be- 
hind them, and were forced to halt. There, under the moving 
mountain of ice was nature's great mill at work, constantly grinding 
up the material that is carried by the water to the lov/er levels and 
deposited in the sluggish current. Off the mouth of the Puyal- 
lup river, where the waters of Puget sound are known to be several 
hundred feet deep, within the memory of the writer, the land has 
visibly encroached upon the water; and so the process still goes 
on, vegetable growth springing up and taking possession of the 
new-made land. Recently a bridle-path has been cut to this great 
glazier which can now be reached from New Tacoma, twenty 
miles by rail and thirty upon horseback, which will doubtless be 
visited by thousands of tourists in the near future. 

New Tacoma, the terminus of the Northern Pacific, is on Puget 
Sound, near the mouth of the Puyallup river. The hop-region 
is along and near the branch hne of the Northern Pacific, running 
to extensive coal mines in the mountains. A branch railroad also 
runs to Seattle through the adjacent valley of White river. This 
valley is longer and wider than the Puyallup, and is fast becoming 



a noted hop region. The two combined could easily produce as 
many hops as are now grown in the United States, if labor could 
be obtained to pick them. The hop-crop in this whole region has 
never failed, or been attacked with disease, as in older hop-districts 
of the world, hence the growers of Washington Territory have 
enjoyed the singular good fortune to have full crops when prices 
were high. Not so with many other hop-raising districts of 
the world, for prices run high because of the failure of their 
crops. In Washington Territory a crop can be raised the first 
year from the cuttings, planting in the spring and harvesting in 
the fall. This is accounted for from the fact of the long-growing 
season, the rich virgin soil, and the strong, vigorous cuttings 
obtainable. 

The nights are always cool in summer, and days never exces- 
sively hot ; the growth is constant, regular and vigorous. During 
fifteen years' experience no enemies of the hop have appeared 
or disease attacked them ; it is the hope and belief of hop-growers 
in W^ashington Territory that the peculiarity of their climate will 
always protect them from the ravages of disease so destructive 
elsewhere. . 



CHAPTER II. 

FIRST HOP-GROWING IN WASHINGTON TERRITORY AND 
DURATION OF HOP YARDS. 

JACOB R. MEEKER, who did not live to see the importance 
of his work, was the pioneer in the business of hop-grow- 
ing in Washington Territory. Charles Wood, familiarly- 
known as "Uncle Charlie," a small brewer, residing in 
Olympia, furnished the cuttings or sets from his garden, and 
encouraged the enterprise by promising to buy the hops. The 
roots (about half a bushel) were packed fifteen miles, by J. V. 
Meeker, on his back to the spot where they were planted, and 
which to this day is about the centre of the great hop growing 
region of the Puyallup valley. 

These were duly planted in the spring of 1866, and yielded, the 
first year, one hundred and eighty-five pounds, and were sold to 
"Uncle Charhe" for eighty-five cents per pound. This "first 
crop" was cured in the'loft over the living-room. The poles 
were carried to the barn and chairs provided for the "women 
and children " to sit in while picking. For curing a second crop 
a small twelve by fourteen feet log-house was duly "fixed up," 
closely chinked, daubed and underpinned, the earth banked up 
around the foundation so that not a breath of air could get in 
below the hops. On the roof, though of clapboards, and open, a 
formidable ventilator was erected ; below a large stove was set, 
with pipe running around the room, of a capacity for a house of 
three times the size of the one in use. 

The writer will never forget the look of despair depicted upon 
the countenance of his father, when arriving upon the ground, 
where he had gone to see the "new hop-house work," and found 
the upper room filled with fog and the moisture dripping back 
upon the hops. The old gent was in a " peck of trouble," as he 
said, declaring that he believed if the " burned thing" (referring 
to the house) "was turned bottom side up it would draw." After 
considerable persuasion he consented to tightening the roof and 
(8J 



opening some holes under the foundation, when the fog imme- 
diately disappeared, and the " first kiln of hops " in Washington 
Territory was speedily dried. 

In the milder climates of Europe, where the soil is favorable, 
hops are grown for centuries upon the same ground, yet in prac- 
tice, yards are changed at stated periods, and many fail after a 
period of twelve to fifteen years. On this subject Morton says : 
speaking for England, " No rule can be given for the length of 
time during which hops can be successfully grown upon the same 
soil. This must be ascertained by actual experience ; but we may 
state, generally, that hops grow best on a new soil, all other cir- 
cumstances being equal. Ordinary land should be changed once 
in ten or twenty years. The durability of the hop-plant is very 
great when growing upon congenial soil, with careful cultivation. 
It is difficult to ascertain the age of pardcular plantations ; we 
have one, however, in our possession, which has not been replanted 
for at least one hundred and fifty years, and it is as flourishing as 
ever." The same author also mentions a hop-yard that had been 
in uninterrupted cultivation for three hundred years. There are 
well authenticated cases where hop -roots have been traced thirty 
feet deep ; how deep they will go it is pfobably not known. 

In Washington Territory hops have been grown continously for 
fifteen years upon the same land without any seeming diminution 
of the crop, or weakening of the plant. There are hop-yards of 
that age without a missing hill, or sign of decay. Judging from 
the great depth and richness of the soil, coupled with the equa- 
ble mild climate, we may reasonably expect a hop-yard, with 
proper care, will last and flourish for centuries ; hence, great care 
should be taken in the selection of the land, preparation of 
the soil, and planting of the roots for a new yard. 




CHAPTER III. 

PREPARING THE GROUND — METHOD OF PLANTING — SEEDLESS 

HOPS. 

ITH all the conditions favorable, a full crop can be 
//^Bj harvested from cuttings planted in March or April. 
To insure this, sod-ground is selected and double- 
plowed, that is, a light sod is turned and a second plow run deep 
in the furrow thus opened, covering the sod with fresh, mellow 
earth. The next thin sod is turned into the bottom of this deep 
furrow, which in turn is covered as before, and so on until the 
whole is double-plowed. 

With such management the writer has, for many years in succes- 
sion, raised full crops from cuttings planted in the spring. Where 
but one pole to the hill is intended, the plants should be seven feet 
apart, set in squares. Some growers prefer to set two poles to 
the hill and in such cases usually plant seven feet by seven and a 
half or eight. 

There is a difference of opinion among growers as to which 
method is best. Where two poles to the hill is set, the vine is 
less liable to slip down, as one or the other of the poles are likely 
to be rough. With one pole to the hill there are many " squat " 
hills late in the season, as the vines become loaded, especially if 
the poles are split from clear, free-rift timber. 

The objection to the double poles is the vines become inter- 
locked to such an extent that both poles must be taken down at 
once, which is quite difficult to do without waste, and at best very 
heavy work. Most growers prefer only one pole to the hill, 
which is, in the opinion of the writer, the best, and set the hills 
seven feet apart, in squares. The ground is carefully marked off 
by stretching a long wire or cord, upon which are short strips of 
red cloth, fastened the proper distance apart, and short stakes are 
set to mark the place ; the particular method being fully described 
elsewhere, in the article on hop-growing in New York State. 

Each hill of hops consists of two distinct sets of roots or feeders 
besides the runners or suckers near the surface. Immediately 
(lo) 



II 

under the hill is found a sweetish, bulbous root, usually about six 
inches long and from three-quarters, to an inch and a half in diam- 
eter. These are deep down under the crown of the hill and are 
connected with it by string-like attachments. They are so numer- 
ous that from a peck to a half-bushel may often be found in a 
single hill, are nutritious and are used as food in some parts of 
of Europe. Above these are found a distinctively different kind 
of root, that extend out laterally from the hill, gradually deepening 
and ramifying, and are doubtless the main feeders of the plant. 

The runners are found near the surface and extend frequently 
several feet without diminishing in size and have numerous eyes 
or buds. These are cut into lengths of from four to six inches 
according to eyes in sight, two or more being desirable to each 
cutting ; or the butt of the vine of the previous year's growth is 
cut from the crown with two or more eyes or buds attached, make 
excellent sets to plant, which are called crown -roots. All cuttings 
should be carefully protected from frost or the drying effects of 
the atmosphere until planted. Likewise care should be taken not 
to keep them in piles so as to generate heat. We usually mix 
them with dry earth, placing a thin, alternate layer first of roots 
and then of earth, so that the layer of roots shall not touch, the 
whole covered to keep free from the drenching rains so prevalent 
in Washington Territory. These runners are usually dug at odd 
spells during the winter or early spring and immediately prepared 
by cutting into suitable lengths, and assorting out the largest for 
planting. 

If the ground has been properly prepared, the planting is speed- 
ily done. From three to five cuttings are planted in each hill to 
insure a crop the first year. These are set with the eye or bud 
pointing to a common centre and upward, the whole being lighdy 
covered and the earth packed well around them. Each set 
should be planted separate and not in a bunch. Sometimes 
double hills a foot apart are planted with three cuttings to each 
and the pole set between them the first year, after which one-half 
are plowed or grubbed out. This is only done with a view to 
increase the crop-yield the first year. Every one-hundredth hill 
is reserved for the male or staminate plant. These are necessary 
or else the hops will be seedless, unless there are other yards in the 



12 

vicinity that have staminates. These will impregnate yards half 
a mile distant, to our certain knowledge, and possibly farther where 
the wind is favorable. Many brewers are of the opinion that 
seedless hops are best, believing the seeds to be worthless, and 
give great preference in favor of the German hop, in consequence. 
In an extreme case a Wisconsin hop was found to contain twerity- 
one per cent, of the weight in seeds. We incline to the belief 
that a less number of staminate hills would be desirable and pos- 
sibly none would be better. Certain it is that if the seeds are 
worthless, a large amount of dead weight is being transported at 
a high rate of freight, and which eventually comes out of the 
grower's pocket by the lessened price his hops will command. 
The male hills are set afterwards, and a large stake driven deep, 
close by the hill to permanently mark it. 





CHAPTER IV. 

CULTIVATION — GRUBBING — SETTING THE POLES — TRAINING. 

^ITH a new yard nothing is required but to keep the 
f^/ ground well cultivated by frequent plowing and har- 
rowing ; also to keep the hills free from weeds or 
grass, by hand-culture. All vines that appear early in the sea- 
son, are trained the first year. 

The cultivation and care is more expensive, particularly after 
the second year, when grubbing is required. The runners here- 
tofore described, are usually grubbed out each year, and the 
crown of the hill cut back to the surface. 

After a yard is thoroughly established it would seem that no 
amount of ill-treatment would kill or subdue it. The most 
common way to grub is with pronged hoes, carefully digging out 
the runners and cutting them off, close to the hill as well as the 
crown of the hill, with a knife. Some take a sharp grub-hoe and 
cut off" the crown close to the surface which also destroyes a 
part of the runners. This is frequendy done even after the vine 
has grown several feet, every vestige of growth being destroyed 
without apparent injury. In such cases the after-cultivation is 
depended upon to destroy a sufficient number of the runners, so 
that what is left is not enough to seemingly injure the crop. A 
more " barbarous " way to accomplish the same result, sometimes 
resorted to, but not recommended, is to plow the land from the rows 
close to the hill and then with a sharp, heavy, two-horse harrow, 
run lengthwise over the rows ; the crown of the hill and runners 
are destroyed and the whole leveled down to a fine tilth. 

One would think such treatment would utterly destroy the hill, 
but it does not, and large crops follow after such harsh methods. 
In any event the runners must be kept under subjection to obtain 
good results. Before the poles are set in the spring, the ground 
is plowed deep with a double team. We have with fine results 
followed this first plowingwith a subsoil-plow in the bottom of the 
furrow, sixteen inches deep, requiring three heavy horses abreast. 

(13) 



This was done in March and April. Millions of roots were cut 
and broken as could be attested by sight or sound following the 
plow The after-growth showed the effect the whole season by a 
more vigorous growth of dark-green foHage in the driest weather, 
and an increased yield. We also cultivate deep during the whole 
season, as will be described later on. 

One cannot be too careful in setting the poles in a good, sub- 
stantial manner. If careless work is done, much trouble follows, 
and oftentimes loss, by the breaking of arms or vines, interlocked 
with other hills where a pole topples over from the heavy, accu- 
mulating load. Sometimes a gust of wind will throw down a 
good many. We never let this work out by contract and always feel 
shy of men who boast of the great number they can set in a day. 
It is very important that this work should be well done at the 
start, for no amount of after-care can repair the damage and make 
a good job, if once poorly done. A sharp-pointed tool, called a 
"dibble," is used to make the holes, and in our alluvial, sandy- 
loam soil, this is easily and speedily made to the required depth, 
of from sixteen to twenty inches. An expert man will set the 
pole with a "thug" letting go before it reaches home, to pre- 
vent laceration of the hands. One can tell by the sound whether 
a pole is well set. 

Where there is but one pole to the hill, it is set as near per- 
pendicular as possible. With two poles to the hill, the case is 
different ; the tops are leaned out apart, to let as much sunlight 
as possible in the hill. The cultivation now begins in earnest, 
and consists of plowing, harrowing or cultivating according to 
the condition of the yard or fancy of the grower. The best results 
undoubtedly follow from deep culture, though many growers 
shrink from the deep plowing, fearing lest breaking the roots, 
will result in injury. 

We have followed this deep culture up to the end of the culti- 
vating season, with good results. A long, narrow-bladed shovel- 
plow, which we call a " bull-tongue," is a capital thing to root 
down deep, running it after and in the bottom of the furrow 
of a side-plow. We aim to plow, harrow, cultivate or in some 
way go over the yard every week, but generally fall behind, and 
get around about every ten days. The cultivation is usually done 



15 

by the first week of July, for by that time the road is blocked by 
the arms reaching across the rows and interlocking, so as to 
utterly preclude the direct passage of man or beast. 

Aside from this, we believe the cultivation should be discon- 
tinued by the time the bloom begins to appear. At that time the 
surface of the ground becomes "matted," so to speak, with a 
mass of fine, infinitesimal roots, that shoot up to the surface, so 
numerous that a pin could hardly be stuck in the ground without 
encountering one. These, it is true will re-form if destroyed, but 
at this stage of growth it is thought best not to disturb them ; any 
way we cannot if we would, on account of the obstructions before 
stated. 

There is a difference of opinion among growers as to hilling up 
or level culture. Both methods are practised with seeming like 
results, though more now incline to hill up, both with the plow 
and by hand, as there is less labor to keep the hill clean, by 
throwing in fresh dirt to smother the weeds than to remove 
them. The main point is that the cultivation should be thorough. 

The hoeing and weeding of the hills usually begins with the 
second plowing, and with some, not until the third. It is true 
economy to begin early and do thorough work in the start; more 
benefit is derived by so doing, and the after-hoeing is "very mate- 
rially lightened. The pronged -hoe is usually preferred for the 
first time, as the soil can be dug up around the hill with less dam- 
age to the roots than with an ordinary blade-hoe. Later in the 
season, the pronged-hoe is discarded, as then earth is thrown into 
the hill around the butt of the vines, to cover up the young growth 
of weeds. 

Simultaneous with the cultivation the training requires the most 
constant vigilance, first to see that the pole is stocked with the 
requisite number of vines, and afterwards to fight down the excess 
of vines, always ready to take to the poles. This last costs us more 
labor than the first. With new yards, all the vines are allowed to 
go up the poles that start early enough to bear a crop, but with 
the old yards the case is different. Where but one pole to the hill 
is set, from three to five vines are trained, but where there are two 
poles, three vines to each pole is not considered too many. How- 
ever, the crop is not measured entirely by the number of vines 



i6 

trained, as where less in number, the loss is partially compen- 
sated by a more vig-orous growth, longer arms and further ramifi- 
cations. In practice many growers let the vines take to the poles, 
helping only such as go astray, and then later on go through 
and thin out the excess. This frequently becomes an intermina- 
ble job, particularly if not attended to in the very nick of time, 
as often a dozen or more vines are half-way up the pole before 
attended to. A better way is to train the proper number from the 
beginning, and persistently fight the excess off. As the growth 
proceeds, the rank, vigorous growers frequently "get lost" par- 
ticularly in cloudy weather, and must be helped back to the 
pole and tied up. 

Tying the vines to the poles is usually done with ravel- 
Ings of coarse burlap, cut in squares for the purpose, or from 
strips of the inner bark of the cedar ; sometimes cotton twine is 
used. With whatever material it is done, care should be taken 
not to tie the vines too tight, or in winding them around the pole 
not to haul it taut to the sharp corners of the poles and thereby 
break or bruise the vine. This tying is repeated as often as the 
vine goes astray until the pole is stocked, and gives very much 
more trouble when it is cool and cloudy than in warm, growing 
weather. Where there is one vine securely climbing the poles, no 
tying for new ones are needed, as the training can be done by 
winding first around the pole and then interlock with the vine 
above. 

By the time the cultivation is done the poles are well stocked 
with vines, the arms not only reach out across the rows below, 
but likewise interlock from hill to hill at and near the top of the 
pole, until by the harvest season there is a perfect canopy of hops 
almost shutting out the sunlight below. This tends to prevent 
the growth of weeds, or at best to check them from want of sun- 
light. From this on, until harvest time, nothing is required but 
to see to it that the fallen poles are properly propped up and the 
"squat" hills are attended to. These last are frequently numer- 
ous where only single poles are set and the timber from which 
the poles are split has been clear and the rift fine, leaving the 
poles smooth. What are termed "squat hills" are where from 
any cause the vine has slipped down the pole. This frequently 



17 

happens as the load of hops accumulate, settling down to the 
ground, and if not attended to, but left in such a bunch, the hops 
that rest on the ground will be destroyed, and all will be injured 
from want of sunlight. Workmen are sent through the yard to 
carefully push these up the pole with the hand and by help of a 
wooden fork, then driving a hard-wood wedge into the soft 
cedar pole. This will effectually keep the vine in place until 
harvest time. 

The whole cost of cultivation and care of hops until picking 
time, including setting the poles and training, is not far from 
thirty dollars per acre. 




CHAPTER V. 

INDIAN HOP PICKERS — HOP BOXES — CARE OF GREEN HOPS. 

(K'HE "hops time," as the Indians term the hop-picking, 
- has come to be their regular harvest. The bulk of the 
hops are picked by Indians ; they come from far and 
near, some in wagons, some on horseback, a few on foot, but the 
greater number in canoes. Two thousand, five hundred Indians 
came into the Puyallup valley during the hop-harvest of 1882. 
They were of all conditions, the old and young, the blind and 
maimed, the workers and idlers, making a motley mess curious 
to look upon. These were from all parts of Puget sound, from 
British Columbia, and even from the confines of Alaska. The 
furthermost tribes come in their large canoes (made from the 
immense cedars of that region), so large that they dare and do 
venture to sea in them, in their seal-fishing season, manned with 
twenty men or more. The voyage to the hop-yards is all by the 
inland channel and among the islands of Puget sound. Often- 
times a month is occupied in making the trip, leisurely working 
their way, camping here and there to hunt or fish, as their in- 
clination prompts. 

Wherever night overtakes them they are at home, and when 
they arrive at the hop fields a few hours suffices to construct their 
camps, and be ready for work. When fairly settled down to it 
they are inveterate and reliable workers, going to the hop-field as 
soon as they can see to work carrying their dinners with them, 
and remaining until pitch dark. Experts among them make as 
high as three dollars a day in some cases, but taking the average, 
only about one dollar and a quarter a day. 

It sometimes happens that all the hops cannot be hauled, though 
the teams frequently run until nine or ten o'clock at night. In 
such cases, the hops are stirred in the boxes during the night if 
any signs of heat is developed. Great care is required with the 
full boxes at the kiln while awaiting their turn to be emptied. If 
neglected a discoloration follows, that at least mars the look of 

(18) 



19 



the sample, if no other harm follows. Some growers empty the 
hops as brought in, on a floor prepared for the purpose. Latterly 
this is not practised as at flrst. Of course where no such room is 
provided for the green hops, there must be extra boxes. In prac- 
tice, more than double the number being used in the field, is re- 
quired, as some are standing full on the platform, while a part are in 
transit to and from the house, and a few always in the carpenters' 
hands for repairs. It is great economy to have plenty of boxes. 

These standard boxes, now generally adopted, are five feet, ten 
inches long, by two feet, ten inches wide at the top, and four feet, 
four inches in length by one foot, four inches in width at the bot- 
tom, all inside measure. The corner-posts are made of fir, two 
inches square; the bottom is also made of fir, and should be one 
piece, of three-quarter-inch stuff The sides and ends measure 
twenty-eight inches in depth on the slope and consist first at the 
bottom of fir, one by four inches, and to which the bottom board 
is securely nailed ; next above this is half-inch cedar, then next 
above this on the sides, a clear strip of fir one and a quarter by 
four inches, and eight feet long, which project at each end (as shown 
in figure 2) and are of a shape suited for use as handles with which 




Fig. 2. — Hop Box. 



to carry the box ; above this is another ten-inch cedar. The 
upper edge of this should be thickly driven full of brads or lath 
nails to prevent pickers from slyly reducing the size of the box l)y 
splitting off part of the top board. At the ends, the four by one 
and a quarter inch fir strip, to correspond to that of the handle 
should be at the top, as protection from breaking by weight of 
poles laid on it. Formerly the corner-pieces projected above the 



20 

top of the box, upon which cross-pieces were mortised, to furnish 
a rest for the pole, but these are being discarded, and temporary 
forks set in the ground used instead These projecting pieces 
were found to be inconvenient in hauHng or storing. 

From what has been written one can readily see that the culti- 
vation of hops require constant care and vigilance ; our ;r^/ trials 
only begin after the cultivation is ended. If ever there was cause 
for anxiety the hop-growers of Washington Territory have it 
when harvest time approaches. Most of the picking is done by 
Indians, many of whom come long distances, some of them three 
hundred miles in their canoes, bringing with them their dogs and 
their cats, their chickens and trumpery as though they had 
come to "stay all summer." The question of questions with the 
hop-growers, will enough come? if so, will they arrive in time? 
From a supposed short supply of help timid growers will become 
scared and begin to bid up and run after fresh arrivals. The In- 
dians are quick to perceive the situation and ready to profit by the 
anxiety of growers and to drive the best bargain possible. They 
are masters of the situation, or think they are, and oftentimes 
there is much trouble and expense incurred from the scramble 
among growers to procure pickers. As the acreage has increased 
however, the supply of labor has thus far been ample, so that 
there has never been any real loss from lack of pickers. How 
far this can go is a vital question, for upon the answer to this de- 
pends the possible extent of the production of hops in Washing- 
ton Territory. We could raise hops enough to supply the world ; 
just how many can be picked is a problem that will be speedily 
tested by the increased acreage being planted. 



^; 




CHAPTER VI. 

RIPE HOPS— EARLY PICKING— HAULING — TAKING DOWN THE 
POLES PICKING. 

^EFORE picking- begins the yard is carefully examined to 
^ select the ripest portion. At best the work must begirt 
prior to the hops being fully ripe, or else before the pick- 
ing is done the hops would be over-ripe and be injured. A hop 
when fully ripe and well matured will be well and compacdy closed 
at the point ; it becomes harsh and crisp to the touch and makes a 
rustling- noise when clasped in the hand. The seed will be hard 
and a dark, purple color. The color of the hop will have changed 
from a greenish cast to a light yellow or golden. The lupuline 
will be abundant, not only at the base of the leaf or carpel, but 
will extend well out on the leaf; the litde yellow globules of lupu- 
line will show brighter and larger than in an unripe hop. Great 
loss in weight as well as of value follows from early picking. 
Another description of a ripe hop found in Morton's Cyclopedia, 
says : *' A hop may be considered ripe wken it becomes hard and 
crisp to the touch ; when the extreme petals project in a promi- 
nent manner at the tip of the hop ; when the color is changed 
from a light, silvery green to a deep primrose yellow, and when 
on opening the flower the cuticle of the seeds is of a purple color, 
and the kernel or seed itself is hard like a nut. Even after the 
hop has attained a lighdsh-brown color no real injury to its qual- 
ity will have accrued, and for many purposes, such hops are most 
esteemed in the market." 

Chas. Whitehead, says: ''Hops are not, as some suppose, distinct 
flowers, but are strobiles or collections of imbricated scales (bracts) 
under which are yellowish, aromatic, lupulinic glands. These 
strobiles are like the cones of a fir tree, being in reality the fruits 
of the hop-plant rather than its flowers, which are represented at 
an earlier stage by the burr. The time at which these fruits or 
strobiles are fit to pick is indicated by the change of color from a 

C2l) 



22 

light golden to a somewhat deeper hue ; also, by their closing up 
at the tips, and making a rustling sound when touched. Their 
seeds or glands, should be firm and dark in appearance and should 
** cut hard " before the hops are gathered." 

Doubtless much greater loss occurs from too early picking than 
at first thought would seem possible. There is an actual loss in 
weight from the lack of a full development of the lupuline, which 
will frequently amount to as much as eight or ten per cent, of the 
whole, and/or(y to fifty per cent of the intrinsic value. 

At best not rfiore than eighteen per cent, of the gross weight of 
hops is of value to the brewer ; if half of this is absent, or say nine 
per cent, of the whole, the intrinsic and eventually the commer- 
cial value of the hops will be reduced in like proportion. The 
grower loses in weight by picking unripe hops in the first place, 
and the brewer still more by the undue proportion of weight of 
no value to him; but sooner or later he comes to know the value 
of such and rightfully throws the whole loss upon the grower, by 
a reduction in price, and he gets not only a smaller quantity but 
likewise a less price ; a keen-cutting, two-edged sword that surely 
ought to open the eyes of the least observant growers. 

A touch of a reddish cast on a hop-sample, where not caused 
by disease is not held to be a blemish, but rather as an evidence 
of ripeness, which it is, and hence does not detract from its sala- 
ble value, but rather adds to it. This early picking will doubt- 
less in part account for the varied experience of brewers with 
" Territory hops," some giving nothing but unstinted praise while 
others only unmeasured condemnation. The grower naturally 
will ask what is he to do about it ? He can now only barely get 
through his harvest in time to save the last of his crop. Nothing 
can be done except to provide more drying capacity, secure more 
pickers and shorten the harvest season. This can only be done 
at considerable Increased cost, but in the end will pay. It would 
be better that the later picking, if blackened, should be sent to 
the extract factory, rather than that Immature hops should be 
put on the market to throw discredit upon the whole product. 
This will Imply higher prices for picking, and with a likewise cor- 
responding increase of expenditure for transportation of the 
greater number of pickers required, (as doubtless, soon at least, a 



23 

part of the transportation charges will have to be paid by the 
grower), and an earlier limit of the acreage possible to get picked 
will be reached. It will also imply farther, that in seasons of ex- 
cessive yields and low prices that the ripe, mature hops will sell, 
while those known as early-picked growths will remain unsold 
until either ruinous prices are accepted or become trash and 
dumped out of warehouses to save further storage charges. It 
has been suggested, and is more than probable, that an imma- 
ture hop has not the keeping qualities of a ripe hop ; it stands 
to reason that such is the case. 

The hop-boxes are each single, and are constructed wider and 
longer at the top than at the bottom, that pickers can easily stand 
up close to them as likewise that the box may not strike the heels 
of the front man in carrying to and from the wagon, or in and out 
of the kiln. These hold nineteen and an eighth bushels struck 
measure, which w^eighs an average of one hundred pounds w^hen 
green and twenty five pounds when dry. The hops are hauled 
on wagons or sleds in these boxes and emptied from them directly 
on the floor of the kiln. No certain number of pickers are allot- 
ted to a box, as the Indians come in families and work accordingly. 
In fact, most of the hops are not picked into the box directly, the 
Indians preferring to pick on mats or blankets spread on the 
ground, and when a sufficient quantity is picked to fill a box, they 
are transferred quickly in baskets by the pickers. This is done 
by the pickers to avoid the settling of the hops incident to long 
standing where the hops are picked directly into the box. 

Although not quite so many hops are got into the box in conse- 
quence of this practice, it is preferable as affording a better 
opportunity to examine the picking and insist upon good work. 
Of course the hops should be picked free from leaves ; as near as 
practicable they should also be picked separate and not in bunches. 
The vine is cut three feet from the ground, and the lower portion 
unwound from the pole. It is thought best to cut them well up 
from the ground to prevent the hill from bleeding. 

The vines that interlock with other hills at or near the top of 
the pole are then cut with a hook made for the purpose, usually 
from a worn ten-inch file. This hook is fastened to a long handle 
so that the topmost vines can be easily reached. The pole is then 



24 

swung to and fro as it stands, to loosen it. Great care is required 
in this to prevent breaking. Many are broken in this way at best. 
The pole is then lifted up clear of the ground and placed either 
with the top end projecting over the box and the butt end on the 
ground, or on wooden forks improvised by the pickers for their 
own convenience. One stout man to every twenty pickers is 
considered necessary as a helper in taking down poles, cutting the 
vines apart, making roads and as a general assistant. The Indians 
clamor for more help, generally for one of their own number, who 
if not watched, will infrequently help his friends in picking 
while drawing wages, instead of doing the work allotted to him. 
In practice the Indians will lay hold and help themselves to a pole 
rather than wait for the assistant. 

A general superintendent and paymaster is constantly in the 
field to pay for and receive the boxes. In large yards, where 
there are a great many pickers, and necessarily scattered, it has 
been found advisable to have a number on each box, co the fore- 
man can make a note of it in his book when he receives it, 
otherwise before the wagons come, and the foreman is in a distant 
part of the field, a box may disappear and pay claimed for it a 
second time. A check of the value of one dollar is paid for boxes 
the size described. In some yards a regular system is inaugu- 
rated; the foreman is charged with the checks in the morning 
that are issued to him ; he, to protect himself, exacts a receipt from 
the teamsters, who in turn deliver the boxes to the foreman at the 
kiln, where a strict account is also kept. These checks are paid 
at the ofBce in specie (generally silver), as presented. Sleds are 
frequently used in hauling the hops where the yard is small and 
the distance not great. These are very objectionable because of 
the injury to the yard, packing down the ground very solid. 
Latterly wagons have been more in use. 

The poles are thrown in convenient piles by the pickers and 
the vines left on them until later in the season, when the yard is 
" cleaned up." The vines are then stripped from the poles, and 
these last put in piles crossed at one end, or in some cases stood 
up in stooks. It is best not to burn the vines until later in the 
season, after the leaves have fallen off. In fact it would be better 
not to burn them at all if they could be cheaply cut and plowed 
under, but no way has yet been devised to do it without too 
great an expense. 




CHAPTER VII. 

DRYING — IMPORTANCE OF LOW TEMPERATURE — GREAT LOSS 
FROM HIGH DRYING. 

^HE value of a hop is contained in the lupuHne, a yellow 
substance found at and near the base of the leaf This 

^^^ substance is the bitter principle of the hop and consists 
of numerous small globules of a bright, golden color, that in their 
natural state are seen to stand out prominently with a fairly 
shining, or almost glistening color, and emits a sharp, pungent 
flavor, readily known by experts, but not so easily described. 

This substance is most sensitive to injury by high heat, and 
hundreds of tons of hops are injured annually, and in many 
cases their value almost totally destroyed by the careless or 
ignorant manner in which they are dried. The writer knows by 
actual experience that when hops are subjected to a heat of over 
1 60° Fahrenheit, that there is to the naked eye, a visible change 
in the appearance of the lupuline in many samples that can be 
selected in a flooring of hops, though not all will show the eftect 
ahke. We are led to believe from this that either the length of 
time after being dried, that the hops are subjected to the current of 
heated air, or else some unknown condition of the hops, before 
going on the kiln governs this visible sensibility to heat ; be that 
as it may, the fact stands out prominently so that any observing 
hop-grower can demonstrate it with no expense and but little 
trouble. As the heat is increased the change becomes more ap- 
parent, until at about 180'^ the globules begin to disappear and 
run together, presenting a dull brown or red appearance, of 
all shades, according to the degrees of intensity, and as we 
believe, duration of time the hop has been subjected to this high 
heat. If to the naked eye there is a visible change in this deli- 
cate substance, from the effects of heat, how much more apparent 
it becomes when subjected to the rigid scrutiny of the chemist or 
the practical test of the brewer. 

(25) 



26 

The extract, or bitter principle of the hop, according to Thaus- 
ing, "assumes a reddish, yellow color when heated above 140° 
Fahrenheit, and when cooled off, can be rubbed into a fine pow- 
der." * * "At 212° F. the hop bitter swells up under decompo- 
sition, and combustion takes place with a sooty flame." And yet, 
in the face of such facts, our American authority, yet in print, 
recommends 180° F. as a safe temperature. We know from ex- 
perience that it fairly cooks the hops and destroys much of their 
value. 

Charles Whitehead, in his work entitled, " Hops from the Set 
to the Sky- Lights," published by Effingham Wilson & Co., Royal 
Exchange, London, says: 

" Drying hops thoroughly in twelve hours, necessitates the 
" maintenance of a high temperature, equal to at least 125° Fahr- 
" enheit, throughout the process. \n the opinion of those who 
"have studied this subject, a great waste of valuable, essential 
"principles is caused by the system of drying hops at such high 
"temperatures. The hops that are dried by sun and air in Ger- 
"many have a much higher percentage of essential oil and other 
" principles, valuable in brewing, than the finest East and Mid- 
" Kent hops, that have been subjected to great heat. Spalt hops 
" do not naturally contain a larger proportion of these principles 
"than those of East and Mid-Kent, but in the former case the 
" method of desiccation preserves their valuable qualities while in 
"the latter the merciless treatment of stewing or baking, to which 
" they are subjected, causes an absolute visible loss of lupuline or 
" gold dust, besides the loss of invisible essences. 

" Analyses made of various samples, by Mr. Porter, the analyti- 
"cal chemist, showed most conclusively that Spalt hops partially 
" dried in the sun and brought to England and dried again, at a 
"comparatively low temperature, upon Hopkin's patent kilns, 
" (Fan process) contained a larger percentage of oil, resin, and 
" bitter principles, than various samples of Kent, Sussex, Bavarian, 
" Belgian, and American hops, dried in the usual manner, quickly 
" and at a high temperature. A sample of Worcester hops, dried 
" slowly and at a low temperature, upon Hopkins' patent kiln, was 
" proved by Mr. Porter, to have a somewhat larger percentage of 
" oil, resin, and bitter principle than the Spalt hops, with a consider- 



27 

" ably smaller amount of moisture. For example the Spalt sample 
"contained 14.08 of oil, resin, and bitter principle ; and of mois- 
"ture 6.96, while the Worcester sample contained 14.98 of oil, 
"resin and bitter principle; and only 4.92 of moisture. 

" The samples of East and Mid-Kent, Bavarian and American 
"hops, showed percentages of oil, resin, and bitter principle, 
"varying from 8 to 13.27 ; and of moisture, from 6.15 to the high 
"figures of 9.87 in the Sussex, and 10.25 ^^ the Belgian samples. 

" These experiments demonstrated scientifically what practical 
" brewers had long perceived, that the generally adopted system 
" of drying hops causes great waste of * ethereal residues,' with a 
" corresponding diminution in their actual brewing value. Accor- 
" ding to Hopkins' method, the temperature to which the drying 
" hops are exposed, never exceeds 100°. That they are thoroughly 
" desiccated, or in other words, that the moisture is driven ofif, is 
"proved by the analyses given above; at the same time, the 
"essential and useful properties are retained. All the other sam- 
" pies dried quickly at high pressure showed curiously enough 
" more moisture and less of the desiderated principles." 

The Hopkins' kiln mentioned in the above extract is the "Fan 
process " applied with double floors and a suction fan at the top 
of the kiln. 

From this it will be seeji that the best English authority calls 
125° a h'g/i temperature with which to dry hops. This doubtless 
accounts for the very wide range of value of the numerous sam- 
ples of hops tested, showing a difference in value of nearly sixify 
percent., which our author accounts for from the " merciless treat- 
ment of stewing or baking " to which they are subjected. 

In addition to the loss or waste of the " ethereal residues," as 
claimed, there can be no doubt but there is a greater loss in the 
non-keeping qualities of high-dried hops, as compared with those 
cured at a low temperature. 

Almost any inexperienced farmer can raise hops, but nothing 
short of the most vigilant, careful and intelligent management 
will prepare the crop, without injury, ready for market ; hence 
the curing is the all-important part of hop-growing, and if not 
properly done, results in great loss and final failure. 

What would be thought of a farmer who would raise wheat or 



28 

corn, or any other farm produce, and year after year, so manage 
his crops that nearly two-thirds of their value were destroyed? 
His financial ruin would be inevitable and speedy ; and yet this 
very thing is happening with the hop-crop of many growers, 
which tells on them in years of plenty, being shunned by experi- 
enced buyers, leaving their hops to become trash to be sold for 
packing material. 

Nor is this all ; the commercial value of the whole crop is 
effected by the careless or ignorant management of any consider- 
able proportion of growers; as dealers and consumers will judge 
all growths from any particular locality to some extent by one 
which they have tried and found to be inferior. This particularly 
applies to hops, as the general appearance is the same and the 
injury is not always detected until it is too late. 




CHAPTER VIII. 

HEATING THE HOUSE — CURING BY CURRENT OF HEATED AIR — 

LAYING THE FLOOR — DEPTH OF FLOORING — SULPHURING — 

TURNING THE HOPS. 

'OPS as brought to the kihi in the green state, i. e. un- 
cured, contain seventy-five per cent, moisture for an 
average of the harvest. To withdraw this moisture 
speedily, without injuring the hops, is most difficult. 
This must be done by passing a current of heated air through 
them and not by radiated heat. The air, coming in contact 
with the hops, becomes partially saturated with moisture, which 
is constantly replaced by a fresh supply of dry air, and so the 
process goes on until they are dried, the air retaining the 
moisture until expelled from the ventilator above by the force of 
the current constantly coming up through the hops from below. 
Hence it will readily be seen that it is essential to admit an abun- 
dant supply of fresh air at the base of the building. There is no 
rule to guide how large a space to leave to supply a sufficient 
quantity of air ; I should say open out under the foundation, to 
admit all you can use and keep to the required heat ; the more the 
better. We have fully twelve inches all around, under the foun- 
dation of our ordinary draft-kiln. With our fan-blast kilns, a 
large fan is driven by steam, at a high rate of speed, the hum of 
which can be heard for five miles around, pouring a volume of cold 
air around the heated furnace and pipes, below, forcing a strong 
current through the hops. In such a kiln we can lay the hops 
" waist deep," and cure them at a low temperature, in ten hours. 
A particular description of this process will be found in the 
chapter on houses. The principle is the same but the increased 
current of air hastens the process ; hence the central idea should 
be to get as strong a ciirrerit of air to circulate through the hops, 
as possible up to the amount of your heati7ig capacity and to keep 
in 77ii?id not to run up a high temperature. 

(29) 



30 

The fires should be started in the commencement of the hop- 
harvest, at least twelve hours or more before any hops are put on 
the floor. This has been found necessary, to dry the walls of the 
house and at least partially the earth floor of the building ; other- 
wise the moisture from these sources will retard and in some cases, 
entirely prevent the first floor from drying, until it is too late 
to save them from injury. In practice we usually put a watchman 
on the night before beginning to pick, keeping fire all night and the 
next day, until the first load of hops is receiv^ed, just the same as 
if the flooring was laid ; or what is a little more economical run 
the fires the previous day when the sun is shining and the atmos- 
phere is not so cool. 

The hops are brought to the kiln in the boxes (described else- 
where) in which they are picked, on w^agons or sleds and as soon 
as enough accumulates, are carried into the house and emptied 
on the floor. They are then forked over, as the workmen 
spread them evenly on the floor, ^ This requires great care and 
considerable skill, to spread a flooring of hops so that the curing 
will be done evenly, for if one part of the floor is laid heavier 
than another, or one portion carelessly settled by dropping the 
fork, stepping on them, or in any other way settling any 
portion of the flooring, to render it more compact than the 
rest, that portion will not dry rapidly and will be left as a 
damp spot and delay the whole flooring. Assistants should be 
taught to scrape their feet on the floor in moving through the 
hops and under no circumstances to step on them. 

Fifteen inches is as deep as hops should be spread, to get the 
best quality, except where power is used, as described elsewhere, 
though most growers put on heavier floors than this, even up to 
eighteen or twenty inches in depth. There is undoubtedly econ- 
omy in heavy flooring, up to the point the hops do not sag. This 
is accounted for by the known fact that heated air coming in con- 
tact with a moist substance does not become fully saturated by 
the first contact, but like a sponge, will by contact again and again 
take up more moisture and carry it ofl" as invisible vapor. More 
work is done by a given quantity of heated air, though somewhat 
at the expense of quality, as the lower strata of hops become 
dry first and with heavy floorings are subjected to this heat, long 



31 

after being thoroughly cured, until all are dried. Double floors 
can be used but have not to any great extent because of the sup- 
posed inconvenience. 

The primary object of burning sulphur under hops, while dry- 
ing has been to bleach them. This, in Washington Territory 
is unnecessary, as they are free from disease or blemish ; 
but there is a direct benefit to be derived from the pracdce, that 
of preserving them, and likewise accelerating the drying process, 
which is mentioned elsewhere. 

The observant hop-grower quickly discovers that his hops dry 
much faster with a given heat, if sulphur is burned under them at 
the beginning of the drying process. Many, however, defer sul- 
phuring until the hops are well-warmed up on the kiln and par- 
tially dried. 

The fumes of the burning sulphur acts upon the hops so as to 
decrease their power of retaining moisture, and while of great 
benefit in accelerating the drying, yet is doubtless of still greater 
benefit in enabling the grower to dry more thoroughly than he 
otherwise could, except by long exposure to heat and consequent 
injury. 

The sulphur should not be burned rapidly ;' the best method 
probably is to heat a pan hot enough to set fire to the sulphur, 
when put into it, and then let it burn without further heat ; or as 
is sometimes practised, heat a bolt of iron until it is red and 
thrust into the pile to set it on fire. A greater benefit will doubt- 
less accrue to partially shut off the draft to the building, while 
burning a given amount of sulphur, yet the same results will fol- 
low by burning more, and leaving the draft on. 

It is best for the purpose of thoroughly drying, and for 
preservation, to burn at least a part of the sulphur just before 
finishing the drying process, and which should be done with par- 
tially closed ventilators. At this time, when the hops are so near 
dry, the bleaching effect will not be so thorough, as when moist, 
but that is what ought to be avoided. 

Two pounds of sulphur burned to each hundred pounds of 
dried hops, is in no wise objectionable, as will be seen by re- 
ference to the eminent authority quoted elsewhere, and if burned 
with the ventilators open, and a strong draft doubtless more can 



32 

be used to advantage, as much of the effect is lost in such cases 
by the rapid passage of the sulphur fumes through the hops. 

The practice is almost universal to turn or mix the hops when 
about two-thirds dry. This is done by carefully turning them 
over with a large, wooden fork, wading through to mix them, 
or piling in the centre of the room and after the lapse of about 
fifteen minutes relay them evenly on the floor. 

Probably a better way is not to disturb the hops at all until 
dry ; for handle them as careful as you may while hot, they will 
break up more or less, which mars the sample very materially, 
and results in a positive injury to their keeping quality. 

The surface may with slight injury be run over with a long 
handled rake when the hops begin to rattle in spots, to scatter the 
less dried hops over those that have become dry at the surface. 

No definite time can be stated that will be required to cure a 
flooring of hops. This depends upon many contingencies, such 
as the condition of the hops, whether very ripe, middling or early 
picked; depth of the flooring laid, temperature of the heated air 
used, volume of the draft and many other minor considerations. 

With hops in good condition, plenty of draft and 150° F. tem- 
perature, I should say to cure an inch deep an hour is as much 
as can be counted on. This will cure, approximately, fifty pounds 
of hops an hour, in a house twenty-four feet square. Lowering 
the temperature to 120° will doubtless reduce the capacity to one- 
half of the above, or about twenty-five pounds per hour, so it will 
readily be seen that here is where the " tug of war " is encountered 
in hop-growing. 

We now approach the most difficult and critical part of the 
whole work, that of judging when the hops are sufficiently dried; 
if turned off too soon they are liable to heat in the bale, and fi- 
nally perish ; if left on too long, great injury follows, especially if 
the heat is, or has been, high. No definite rule can be laid down 
in words, and no one should undertake this part of the work with- 
out first having been taught by experienced hands. 

An ideal cured hop would show only a wilted stem, or core of 
a purplish-green cast, being soft to the touch and flexible ; the 
globules of lupuline, standing out prominently, bright and un- 
changed from that of an uncured hop. In practice, however, 



'33 

most of the stems are not only wilted, but are dried so as 
to be britde and harsh to the touch, and show the " sharp cor- 
ners," which will be readily understood by any one taking a spec- 
imen between the thumb and finger and rubbing the hop to 
pieces. Because of the presence of these over-dried hops, we 
are able to turn off the flooring with a small percentage of " fat 
hops," being those whose stems are not wilted, but show as green 
as when placed on the kiln. Floorings, with ten per cent, of such 
stems, may be turned off, and yet keep if otherwise well and 
evenly cured and properly handled afterwards, though I should 
by no means advise leaving so large a percentage ; probably not 
five per cent, of such stems are left in ordinary pracdce. What- 
ever there may be will have disappeared in a couple of days, and 
such stems as were green will be wilted and the moisture absorbed 
by the balance of the hops. The "after-handling" referred to, 
consists in forking the hops over after having lain a few days and 
began to "warm up," as hops in bulk will do where not dried 
thoroughly. A better plan is to cure at a lower temperature, 
which will insure a larger percentage of wilted stems, and less of 
those with " sharp corners," as likewise of the green stems and 
a more even sample of hops. 

The keeping quality of hops and the cause of the early loss of 
their value will be treated in another chapter. It is only neces- 
sary in this connection to say that moisture is one of the active 
agents causing such loss, and the English authorities recommend 
baling the hops while hot to prevent them from absorbing mois- 
ture from the atmosphere 





CHAPTER IX. 

BALING — MIXING THE HOPS — WEIGHT OF BALES — BALING 

CLOTH. 

R'HE dried hops are usually taken directly to the ware- 
' house and there stored in bulk, until the harvest season 
is over. Some growers have their warehouses adjoining 
the kiln and convenient to transfer directly from the one to the 
other ; others, more cautious, build them a safe distance from the 
kiln to be free from the danger of fire, and carry or haul the 
dried hops to the warehouse. In the latter case there is.a cooling 
room or storage for one flooring, attached to the kiln; a conve- 
nient inclined walk is constructed, so that the hops can be carried in 
to the gable-end of the building and there emptied, till the house 
is filled or the crop all gathered. Some of these houses have a 
middle floor, and'after the upper story is partially filled, the hops 
are dropped down to the lower story, which thoroughly mixes 
them and lets the heat incident to the sweat escape and secures 
the grower from danger of heated hops. Hops so managed, or 
what is the same, to fork over, or move the pile from one part of 
the warehouse to another, enables the grower to turn them ofl" 
with less drying. The hops will gradually part with considerable 
moisture while lying in the warehouse, particularly if the warm 
hops are continually emptied directly from the kiln to the ware- 
house. 

A better method is to build more dry-houses and less storage- 
room, and cure at a lower temperature, but thoroughly, and bale 
directly as cured. I have practised this for a number of years, 
contrary to the general custom of the country, but have never 
had a bale of hops injured thereby, and have been able to get 
into the market from two to three weeks earlier, avoid the extra 
risk from fire, and the extra expense of warehouse buildings. 
On this subject, Mr. Charles Whitehead, says, of the English 
method: "Formerly the dried hops were spread all over the 
(34) 



35 

floor to cool, and were not packed up for twelve or eighteen hours, 
or even longer, in order that the hops should not be brittle and 
broken up by the feet of the men who trod them into the pockets, 
by jumping violently upon successive layers raked into these. 
Now they are put in lumps and pressed up at once while hot, and 
before they absorb moisture from the atmosphere." 

One objection to the practice of baling immediately after curing, 
is that the grower's crop will not run as even in quality as if care- 
fully stored, in order that they may mix the whole thoroughly. 
The earlier picking will be lighter, that is not so rich as the later, 
besides no field of hops will be of exactly the same quality and 
color, even if picked on the same day. To most effectually mix, 
so as to have the whole crop uniform, the warehouse should be 
filled in layers, first covering the whole fioor about two feet deep, 
and gradually fill by adding successive layers ; then when baling, 
by taking the whole depth of the pile, there will be no appreciable 
difference in color or value. 

If not baled immediately after cured, and once in the ware- 
house, then a better way is not to press them until required for 
market. The hops in bulk will keep much better than in bale, as 
is abundantly proven by experience. This subject will be treated 
elsewhere, under the head of preservation of hops, to which the 
attention of growers is particularly drawn, as a matter of great 
importance. 

The bales should be put up to weigh one hundred and eighty 
to two hundred pounds. Hop-cloth, weighing twenty-four ounces 
per yard, is best, and is strong enough, if well sewed, to hold the 
bale together to ship to any part of the world. Heavier than that 
is useless weight and brings complaint from brewers who object 
to paying for more tare than necessary ; lighter than this is not 
stout enough at the seam unless rope is also used to bind the bale 
together. This last practice is now nearly entirely abandoned, as 
it is found to be useless. The Harris press is found to be the 
most economical, but requires more tramping than some home 
made horse-power, presses. Now all such are discarded, and only 
the one kind of press is used. A lively crew will turn out twenty- 
five bales a day. Sometimes this is let out by contract at five 
dollars per ton. 



36 




Fig. 3.— Improved Harris Press. 



The improved Harris 
Press, manufactured by 
B. A. Beardsley, Water- 
ville, N. Y., is a great 
improvement over the 
original, as first patented. 
These have double bear- 
ings of the pawls upon the 
upright ratchet, that is a 
great security against 
breaking the pawls, which 
has been found by experi- 
ence to be the weak point 



of the Harris Press. A still greater improvement is in a movable 
head that precedes the downward movement of the follower, a 
device that entirely dispenses with the troublesome end-board, 
that formerly had to be removed, as the follower was brought 
down, causing much delay. 



The same gentleman 
also manufactures what is 
known as the McCabe 
Press, (see cut fig. 4). 
These are so constructed 
that the follower can be 
easily and speedily 
brought down and again 
run up which presses the 
hops in by layers, instead 
of tramping, as with the 
Harris Press. These are 
simple and easy to work, 
though probably not quite 




Fig. 4. — McCabe Press. 



so speedy as the " Harris ;" they are heavier and cost about thirty 
dollars more. Parties on the Pacific slope, can obtain either 
kind at Puyallup. 




CHAPTER X. 

QUALITIES OF HOPS — STORING AND PRESERVING — SMOKING 
WITH SULPHUR — SELLING. 

INHERE are three essential points necessary for the hop- 
grower to know, that he may succeed intelHgently, 
viz: — First. To know how to economically produce a 
good hop, and to do this he must know a good article when he 
sees it. Second. How to best preserve his crop ; and Third, How 
and when to sell. 

I. The aim of the preceding pages has been to teach how to best 
proceed to produce the finest and best quality of hops, yet as 
conditions vary, so will management necessarily also vary, hence 
it is important that the farmer should know at sight if he is not 
succeeding, so as to at once apply the remedy. The producer's 
opinion is of but little value as to what is a good article, unless 
based upon that of the consumer, hence, to ascertain what points 
or characteristics of hops give them the greatest commercial 
value, we naturally turn to the consumer's authority for our 
authority. The following extract, which tersely states what 
brewers want, and what they wish to avoid, and which, while au- 
thority primarily with the brewer, is secondarily as much a guide 
to the hop grower, taken from Julius Thausing's work on " Pre- 
paration of Malt and Fabrication of Beer.* 

QUALITIES OF THE HOPS AND THE BUYING OF HOPS. 

" The brewer in determining the vafue of hops is forced to take 
" into consideration certain external qualities, far more so than in 
"barley, for he can reach a conclusion as to suitableness of the 

*" Qualities of thd hops and buying of hops," "The smoking of hops with sulphur," and the 
" Storing and preservation of hops '' is taken from the German work " The Theory and Practice 
of the Preparation of Malt and.the Fabrication of Beer," by Julius E. Thausing, Professor of the 
School for Brewers and of the Agricultural Institute, " Fransisco-Josephum," of Modling, near 
Vienna, and translated from the German by William T. Brannt, thoroughly and elaborately edited 
by A. Schwarz and Dr. A. H. Bauer; published by Henry Carey Baird & Co., 8io Waluut Street, 
Philadelphia, Pa. Price, $10.00. 



38 

' hop for the febrlcation of beer from external appearances alone. 
' We will here give the good as well as the bad qualities of hops. 
I. The cones of the hop should not be too large ; the carpels 
' should not be thick and leathery, but tender, and their ribs should 
'be thin. The color of the cones should be yellowish -green, 
'and not light-green, red, or reddish brown. The peduncle 
' should not be stripped of leaves, and loose carpels should not 
' be mixed with the hops in large quantities, but the cones should 
' appear closed with the carpels lying tightly above each other. 
' Cones of a light-green coloring and open, are frequently proof 
' of unripe hops, which contain less flour and have a weaker, aro- 
' matic smell. A light-red coloring and a very shiny surface of 
' the carpels is an indication of the hops having been allowed to 
' become over-ripe. The consequence of over-ripeness is a loss 

* of the valuable flour, yet this is not so injurious as when the com- 
' ponent parts of the hops have suffered injury from having been 
' heated during drying, and the hops have acquired a dull brown 
'color in consequence. This appearance is called 'ground red' 
' (' bodenroth ')• The hops have a similar appearance when they 

* have been baled too damp and have become heated in the hop 

* bale, when they largely lose their agreeable aroma and very 

* frequently become entirely useless. If the hops have been dried 

* too much, or have been frequently repacked for whatever rea- 

* son, the carpels become detached from the peduncle, the cones 
' appear to be torn, and they have lost some of their flour. If the 
' hops have been dried by artificial heat, at too high a tempera- 

* ture, the flour assumes an orange color and they acquire an 

* empyreumatic smell. 

" 2. When a few cones are torn to pieces as large a quantity of 
' hop flour as possible should be seen on the inner surface of the 
' carpels. The richer the hop is in flour, which is the bearer of 

* its most valuable component parts, the more valuable will it be, 
' if it also possesses the other good qualities. The flour of fresh 
' hops is of a light-yellow color. The fruits situated on the base 
' of the carpels should be as small as possible; large granules, 
' which weigh heavy, are an indication of a not very fine hop. 

" 3. A fine, strong, aromatic odor should be perceptable when 
' the cones are rubbed between the hands. Hops of poor quality. 



39 

" or raised under unfavorable conditions, possess a garlicky odor. 
" Hops smelling mouldy or musty, or which have suffered injury 
" in drying, or in the hop bale, should not be used. 

" 4. The separate cones should stick together when the hop is 
" pressed together in the hand, it should ball together, and only 
" slowly separate again ; this is an indication of the hop being rich 
" in resin. If it contains little resin it does not ball and feels dry. 
" When marks are made upon the hand with separate cones, these 
" marks should be sticky and of a yellowish color ; unripe cones 
" make light-green marks. 

'* 5. The taste of the hop should be pure and agreeably bitter. 

"6. It should be free from the leaves of the vines, pieces of 
"vine and other admixtures. The cones should not be covered 
" with mold or the parasitic fungus, smut {Fiwiago Saliciiia), 
" which covers the leaves and cones with a sooty coating, and is 
" very injurious to the hop plant. This fungus may destroy an 
" entire hop harvest. Plant lice frequently make their appearance 
" as forerunners of this disease, adhering in skins to the hop and 
" contaminating it. 

''7. It must not be too old. Old hops do not possess certain 
" of those already-mentioned good qualities ; they have lost con- 
" siderably in value, as the volatile oil, as well as the hop resin, 
" has deteriorated. Hop cones, which have been stored for 
" some length of time, have a brownish color, the fruits are easily 
" detached from the peduncle, the agreeable odor has changed into 
" a disagreeable, cheesy (rank) odor, the flour has a reddish col- 
" oring, and the hop has lost its stickiness. The examination of 
" the hop flour by a good magnifying glass or the microscope is 
" to be recommended as a means of distinguishing old hops from 
" fresh ones. Even then, when the before-mentioned characteris- 
" tics of old hops have in some manner been obliterated with 
" fraudulent intent, a microscopic examination is still a sure guide. 
" The separate glands of fresh hops, which form the hop flour, are 
" full, glossy, and of a lemon color, have a smooth surface, and, 
"when pressed, discharge the contents of the gland, showing a 
"light-yellow coloring. The glands of old hops are shriveled, 
"wrinkled, and the fluid discharged from them is of greater con- 
" sistency, and has a dark-yellow to brownish color, and this color 



4Q 

*' will show itself the more the older the hops are, and the smaller 
"the quantity of hop balsam. In time the hops have become 
" poorer in oil, which has been partly oxidated and changed its 
"color." 

THE STORING AND PRESERVATION OF HOPS. 

" We have repeatedly drawn attention to the instability of the 
" valuable component parts of hops. The influences which exert 
" an injurious effect upon the quality of this expensive brewing 
" material, when it is stored, are moisture and atmospheric air, or 
"rather the oxygen of it, and the brewer must be as much con- 
" cerned about keeping them away, and thus secure the preserva- 
" tion of the hops, as he would be about the keeping of his beer. 

" Hops can only be kept well when sufficiently dried. The 
"drying of the hop cones after they have been gathered is an 
" important and difficult work. The hop grower dries the cones 
" either in drying lofts, where they are spread out in thin layers, 
" or by an artificial heat in special hop kilns, * hop-oasts,' so called 
*'in Kent, England. If two large a percentage of water is con- 
" tained in the hops, when delivered to the brewer, he not only 
"pays for a superfluous quantity of water, but there is also the 
" danger that tightly packed in bales they will become heated and 
" spoil. When bought shortly after the harvest they should be 
" frequently examined. It is best to open the bales somewhat, so 
" that the examination can be better proceeded with. Long, sharp- 
" pointed iron rods may also be pushed into the bales as the heat- 
" ing of the hops will be perceptible on them. If heating of the 
" hops is observed the bales should be at once opened entirely, 
" and loosened or spread out and dried. 

" Several methods have been recommended and used to protect 
" hops as much as possible against the action of atmospheric air. 
" * * * The pressing them meets with steadily increasing 
"favor in England, and is generally used in America instead 
" of treading them into bags as is customary in Germany. 
" "*" * * This pressing is of decided advantage, but the 
" hops must be well dried before they are pressed. * * * 
" It has been recommended to press the hops into pitched barrels 



41 

* instead of bales, and to store them in ice cellars (Scharr). 
' Bing, of Nurnberg, presses them into square bales by hy- 
' draulic presses, the bales are then put into well-soldered tin 
' boxes, and then are placed in well-pitched wooden boxes. It 
' has been further proposed to press the hops into tin boxes, 
' to close these hermetically, and to store them in a cold cellar 
' {Neubecker). 

" According to Brainard's method of preserving them, they are 
'well dried and packed in bags, and brought into a storeroom, 
' which can be kept dark, dry, and cool, and can be hermetically 

* closed. For this purpose the store-room has double walls, and is 
' provided with ice on the upper floor, in the same manner as 
' Brainard^s store cellar and fermenting cellar. It would be 
' desirable if this method of preserving them would come into 
' general use.* * * jf ^-j^^ brewer cannot afford the expense 
'of building a Brainard store-room, he should nevertheless ob- 
' serve certain principles in the construction of a store-room for 
' them. • 

" The store-room should be closed as much as possible against 
' the air, should be dry and cool. It should not be located di- 
' rectly under the roof, where damp air can easily enter, and a 
' simple partition of boards is not sufficient for this purpose. The 
' best plan is to build the store-room with bricks or double-frame 
' sides, between which is placed an isolating layer. It may be 
■ recommended to keep the room cool with ice, but the cool air 
' admitted must not be moist. 

" Larger breweries should never neglect to smoke with sulphur 
' and press certain quantities of hops in years when the price is 
' low. If suitable storing is added to this they can be kept so 
' well that, mixed with fresh ones, they may be well adapted for 
' use the next year, when they may be very dear."* * 

THE SMOKING OF HOPS WITH SULPHUR. 

"We will here say a few words about the frequently, and un- 
" justly discredited treating of hops with sulphur. A similar ap- 
" paratus as for drying malt, is used for smoking the hops with 
' sulphur. The hops are spread upon hurdles made of slats, and 



42 

"covered with horse-hair cloth, and beneath these is burned one- 
" half to one kilogramme (i.i to 2.2 pounds) of pure sulphur 
"for each cwt. of hops. The sulphur combines with the oxygen 
" of the air to sulphurous acid, which passes through the hops in 
" the form of vapor. The effects of the sulphurous acid is mani- 
" fold. They are bleached by being smoked with sulphur, as the 
" sulphurous acids destroys certain organic coloring matter, by 
"deoxidation or passes into colorless combination with them. 
" The sulphurous acid has further the quality of combining with 
"nitrogenous organic compounds (albuminous bodies), and to 
" protect these easily changeable substances from decomposition. 
" It further acts upon the membranes of the cells in such a man- 
" ner, that their power of retaining water decreases, and thus the 
"smoking with sulphur also diminishes the absorption of hy- 
"groscopic fluid. The sulphurous acid is, therefore, antiseptic in 
" its action, as it preserves the organic nitrogenous combinations 
" in an unchanged form and withdraws water, w^hich is a neces- 
"sary condition of decomposition. To this must be added the 
" protection, which the sulphurous acid, passing through the hops, 
"gives to the hop oil and hop resin, against the oxidating action 
" of the oxygen of the air, with which it combines to sulphuric 
" acid. 

" It is also the object of smoking the hops with sulphur to pre- 
" serve them. The use of hops smoked with sulphur is not in- 
"jurious to the quality of the beer, or to the health of the beer 
" consumer, as has been sufiiciendy proved by the experiments 
" made by Liebig and Sedlmayer in Munich. Liebig says : ' The 
"advantage of treating with sulphur is so great, that, if it were 
" not in use, and its value had not been confirmed by experiencCj 
" the discovery of smoking with sulphur would have to be con- 
" sidered as one of the greatest and most important acquisitions 
" in the brewing of beer.' But, nevertheless, the suspicion is 
"justifiable with which the brewer looks upon hops smoked with 
" sulphur, frequently to such an extent that they are never bought 
" in some localities. The bleaching effect of the sulphurous acid 
" is of especial advantage in the fabrication of light beers, but it 
"is just this bleaching effect that is misused. Hops discolored 
"by too long storing, faulty drying, or some other injurious in- 



43 

" fluences, receive again a beautiful light color by smoking with 
" sulphur, thus destroying an important sign which marks the 
" hops as being of little value. The brewer has good cause for 
''being on his guard if the smoking with sulphur is done for this 
"purpose, but not so when fresh, young hops are so smoked, for 
"in that case it is a decided advantage, and the brewer should 
"not neglect to smoke a part of the hops he intends to keep over 
"summer, and he should do this at once, and not wait till the 
" hops have suffered injury from being stored too long." 

II. In addition to the rules laid down for the preservation of 
hops, numerous instances are related by brewers, dealers and 
growers, of hops having been kept in bulk until a year old, being 
so well preserved as to be "scarcely distinguishable from new 
hops." We have taken great pains to get exact information on 
this point, questioning more than twenty persons who have had 
experience; the universal and unanimous verdict was that hops 
would keep better in bulk than in the bale. 

The general theory is that the baling tends to break the glob- 
ules of lupuline, which hastens the loss of their valuable proper- 
ties. Whatever the cause may be the fact stands out prominently, 
proved by experience, that such is the case and which is worth 
more than all theory or " much learning." All agree that hops 
should be kept cool, hence our warehouses should be hned and 
the space between filled with some non-conducting material ; that 
they should be kept free from moisture and the action of the air, 
hence the storage house should be closed. 

III. No other farm crop is raised, where the fluctuations in value 
are so rapid and great, as with hops. The market is never quiet 
but values always changing. This can be accounted for primarily 
upon the fact of there being a wide range in the yield of the 
world's crop, from year to year. Another potent cause is the 
action of the growers, frequently, without cause, holding their 
crops for a time, far above their value, and then later, rushing 
them on a depressed market. It is a known fact that when the 
market is advancing and high, brewers are anxious buyers and 
farmers indifferent sellers, while the contrary conditions bring- 
about contrary results, the farmer being anxious to sell and the 
brewers indifferent buyers. 



44 ^ 

This anomalous state of the hop market, is doubtless caused in 
a great measure by the fear in times of plenty that an over-supply 
may become almost worthless on the hands of the holder from 
age, and from a misunderstanding of the condition of the year's 
supply. A veteran dealer of New York, said to the writer : " The 
time to sell hops is when brewers' lofts are empty." The bulk of 
sales are made during the three months immediately after harvest, 
from which time trade usually assumes more of a retail character 
and appearance of dullness. Then it is that farmers and other 
holders begin to weaken and press for sale. If a part of each 
crop was securely stored in bulk where it was known they would 
keep well until needed, there would be a steadier tendency of the 
market, and in seasons of great plenty prevent the ruthless 
destruction of values by the pressure to force goods upon the 
market not wanted, as likewise to temper prices when needed, 
or at least, furnish a well-preserved hop better suited for use. 
Brewers and dealers would much prefer buying a portion of their 
hops, to be left on storage for a part of the season., than to have the 
whole crop on their hands at once, and those farmers that prepare 
for suitably storing their crop where the hops will keep in best 
condition will find ready buyers at advanced rates. This does 
not effect the question as to when best to sell, for that each must 
determine for himself, according to his own judgment in connec- 
tion with his finances, inclination or preferences, yet if farmers were 
prepared to store part of their year's crop, where they would be 
well preserved, they not only could and would get the increase in 
price warranted by actual better values, but also the saving that 
would accrue in the direct transfer of their crops from their own 
warehouses, to that of consumers. One of the largest and most 
successful dealers in the interior of New York, always ships the 
bulk of his purchases direct from the farmer's warehouses, often- 
times months after their purchase, and in fact, this is practiced to 
a considerable extent by all the dealers.. They are thus relieved 
of the expense of the extra handling, warehousing, insurance, 
risks of heated hops and a host of like contingencies, while the 
brewer is likewise relieved in turn from the expense of being 
compelled to provide such enormous storage capacity ; hence 
each in their turn are willing and do pay more for their hops with 



45 

such accommodation than they otherwise would. If, added to this, 
the fact were known that such portion of their supphes were being 
kept in better condition than they possibly could do themselves, 
then we can plainly see that consumers would not be slow to ap- 
preciate the difference and pay accordingly. 

Another method of preserving- hops, and that too so that they 
will keep for a series of years, is by extracting the lupuline and 
canning it up for future use. There is an extensive factory at 
Waterville, New York, where one hundred bales can be extracted 
in a day, and where before the present ruling high prices, a 
large business was done, and which will be resumed again as soon 
as prices will warrant. Hops can be extracted in the green state 
as well as dried, and we may yet see the day that we will turn our 
dry houses into extract factories, and instead of picking, clip off 
the arms and deliver to the factory, with but light expense ; 
save the cost of picking, drying and baHng; save the spent 
hops for manure; save eleven -twelfths of the freight charges; 
save us from these frightful jumps in the market ; save us from 
the extravagance incident to sudden wealth, or the bitter disap- 
pointment from heavy losses. Then might we place our canned 
hops on board the wheat ships, bound for Liverpool, eventually 
take possession of the English markets, and have a product that 
would be as staple as old wheat in the bin. 




CHAPTER XI. 

GRADES OF HOPS — LABOR SUPPLY COST OF PRODUCTION COST 

OF STARTING A HOP-YARD — PROFITS. 

IN general terms, there are five different grades of hops as to 
commercial value, caused principally by the manner of 

curingand handling by the grower, all within his control. 

These are usually known as " fancy," " strictly choice," " choice " 
or " seconds," " good brewing," or " medium," and " low grade," 
the best grade bringing fully twenty-five per cent, more than the 
lowest. 

A " fancy hop " may be described as one cleanly picked, pro- 
perly cured, bright in color, well matured, not broken, neatly 
baled, and free from all defects, in a word, practically perfect in 
all respects. 

A " strictly " choice hop is one that contains all the intrinsic 
value that a " fancy " hop does but is what is termed a little off in 
color, not having that brilliant lively color, so fascinating to the 
brewer's eye, and will usually sell for at least five per cent, less 
than a " fancy." 

A " choice " hop or seconds may lack one or more of the qual- 
ities of a "strictly" choice, and yet not be deemed a bad hop. 
Sometimes it may be assigned to that grade because of bad pick- 
ing, or the picking anci color may both have not been first class, 
or it may have been broken up in the handling. This last defect, 
that of having been badly broken, will in the English markets 
of itself send the hop down to the third grade, even though every- 
thing else about it is first class. This alone will send the price 
down fully ten per cent, below that of a "fancy;" in times like 
the present, with hops ^20 per cwt. in the London market, makes 
a difference to the grower of ten cents per pound. It is useless to 
decry the unjustness of such classification, for the brewer is the 
authority and his tastes must be deferred to, just the same as all 
(46) 



47 

manufacturers do with their customers, that is, to try and manu- 
facture to suit the fancy of their patrons, but not with a view 
to make or control their Hkes or dishkes. 

" Prime" good brewing or " medium " hops are such as have 
good, sohd values but badly off in color, from whatever cause, or 
slightly mouldy or some similar defect, not so much effecting their 
actual, intrinsic value as in their appearance. These cannot be 
used by some brewers particularly in their pale ale and lager beer, 
but are useful in the brewing of heavy ales or porter, and in con- 
sequence of this limited use, sell for a much lower price. 

" Low grades " are those usually injured by high drying (that 
is with a high temperature) or are *' light" from early picking, or 
heated from lack of sufficient curing, all within the control of the 
grower. There are of course, low grade hops from other causes, 
such as blight or mould or other diseases, yet there are not many 
such. What are termed low grade hops will never bring more 
than seventy-five per cent, as much as "fancy" and more fre- 
quently less, and sometimes are crowded off the market entirely 
and finally sold at a nominal price. It may be safely assumed upon 
a moderate estimate, that the average of the whole of the hop 
crop is reduced in value fully ten per cent, by the careless or ig- 
norant methods practiced by growers ; a loss in such a year as 
1882, of over a million of dollars, a snug sum to be sure, to be 
wasted for nothing. 

Wherever an article of like quality or value can be produced 
cheaply, including the cost of dehvery to consumers, there busi- 
ness will Increase most rapidly, until an equilibrium, as between 
supply and demand, is established, or some one essential point is 
exhausted to measure the possible maximum production. This 
latter contingency, that of labor supply, is the vital " essential 
point " likely to first restrain the indefinite extension of hop- 
raising in Washington Territory, but will doubdess be closely 
followed by the contingency of over-production and consequent 
low prices. This first is a more formidable difficulty to surmount 
than that of the question of low prices, for in that the pressure 
will extend over the productive regions of the whole world. In 
tlie question of labor supply, the hop-growers of Washington 
Territory, will not only be confronted by the increase in cost of 



48 

picking, but likewise that of the question of getting sufficient 
labor even at a greatly increased cost. The following statement 
showing the present cost of producing hops compares favorably 
with that of any known hop-producing region, as will be seen by 
reference to the chapters on English methods and hop-raising in 
New York. To the cost here shown must be added a heavy 
freight charge, three cents per pound to New York, and four to 
London, incident to isolation from the centres of consumption. 

The cost of producing an acre of hops, yielding sixteen hun- 
dred pounds (the average crop of Washington Territory), is as 
follows : 

Cultivating, ^27 50 

Picking, 64 00 

Expenses, getting three pickers to the acre, (estimated), . 3 50 

Field help, per acre, 7 50 

Hauling hops to kiln, 3 50 

Drying, including fuel, 16 00 

Baling labor, at |6,oo per ton, 4 80 

Baling cloth for 1600 pounds, 50 yards per ton, 24-ounce 

cloth, at 15 cents per yard, 6 00 

Twine for 1600 pounds, 20 

Rent of land, including value of poles, 2000 

Breakage and deterioration in value of poles, 5 per cent. 

per annum on cost of 150 per acre, 2 50 

Rent of buildings, including repairs, 12 50 

|i68 00 

This shows in round numbers a cost of ten and a half cents per 
pound for hops in the bale. Numerous hop yards produce a ton, 
and some twenty-five hundred pounds per acre, which costs no 
more to cultivate than where only an average is obtained. The 
picking has been costing more and more each year, and will 
doubtless, in future years, cost sdll more as the demand for pick- 
ers mcrease, and expensive transportation bills will have to be 
met. The years of over-production are certain speedily to come, 
with the low prices incident to an accumulation of stock ; then 
lower grades of hops will be neglected, their values destroyed by 
rapid deterioration in intrinsic worth, and constant accumulation of 
unavoidable, incidental expenses. Such will be forced to sell at 
any price, entailing heavy loss. This in turn will cause neglect 



49 

or destruction of the hop yards producing such. Not so with the 
best quahty of hops, that are well matured, cured at a low tem- 
perature, properly stored (best without baling) in a cool, dry, and 
if possible, air-tight room. Such hops will never need to ** go-a- 
begging," but will be as good as " old wheat" and like money in 
the bank. They will be surely called for at a profit, while low 
grades are perishing, and will be profitable to keep over in sea- 
sons of great plenty. 

From the foregoing statement, it is plain to be seen that the 
only safe ground for a hop grower to stand on, is that of pro- 
ducing only the best quality, with ample preparation to take the 
best care of them when produced. 

The cost of starting a hop yard, and the profits to be obtained, 
are two very uncertain quantities, particularly the latter. The 
writer has raised several, successive crops, without a dollar of 
gain; and yet there is on record, one crop, raised in Washington 
Territory, that yielded the owner, the snug sum of nearly ninety 
thousand dollars' profit. This last, of course, is an exceptional 
case, not likely to be repeated, though the first probably will. 

The actual value of good hop land, ready for the plow, is now 
not less than one hundred and twenty-five dollars per acre. The 
planting will cost, at least, twenty-five dollars more ; poles fifty ; 
and buildings, with hop-press, boxes, etc., a further sum of one hun- 
dred; making a total of three hundred dollars per acre, for a yard 
ready for cultivation. Many tracts of land, only a part of which 
had been cleared, have recently been sold for less money, but what 
is here intended, is the actual value of the cleared land. To this 
must be added the cost of cultivating and harvesting a first crop, 
before any return can be obtained ; a sum, determined to a great 
extent, by the crop yield, but which will bring the grand, total 
outlay to nearly five hundred dollars per acre. 

Many small growers have begun the business, with practical^ 
no capital, but that of their time and farms, the last of which has 
often been obtained from the Government, free. In such cases, 
building is frequently dispensed with at the beginning, either sell- 
ing their hops on the poles or depending on a neighbor's house 
to dry them. 

In some cases a log-house has been erected, chinked and daub- 

■ 4 



50 

ed, a furnace to heat it, built of clay, with flues of the same 
material, covered with sheet iron, and an old-fashioned " cat and 
clay " chimney ; the whole scarcely requiring an outlay of one 
hundred dollars, over and above the time of the pioneer, consumed 
in building. The writer has one of these, long since out of use, 
the first hop house built in the Territory, now standing, which is 
familiarly known as the " old experimental," and which now looks 
like a relic of antiquity ; but many a pound of good hops have 
been cured there, in years gone by. 

And now for the profits, which after all is the great question of 
questions upon which all others hinge. Excluding the present 
exceptional high-priced year, and taking the eleven preceding 
years, based upon actual sales ol one million, two hundred and 
thirty-three thousand pounds of Puyallup hops, (mixed crops) 
sold by the writec, it was found the average price obtained was 
igjwu cents per pound, at Puyallup. This included large sales, 
through the low-priced years, at from four to seven cents per 
pound. This price, it is known, is above the general average 
as reported by other growers, some having run as low as fourteen 
and a half, for a series of years, and so far as known, none 
higher than igTo%. Larger quantities have unquestionably been 
sold under seventeen cents than over, and it is believed that six- 
teen cents per pound, is near the average price that has been 
obtained for a series of years, excluding the present, for the hops 
that have been raised in the Puyallup valley for twelve years. 

This will give a net annual profit of one hundred dollars per 
acre, the picking not having cost in former years as much as now 
The cost of production is greater now than in previous years but 
the standard of quality has been raised ; the shipping facilities 
better and speedier, so that we may reasonably expect a like return 
in the future as in the past, for those that go into the business 
prepared and determined to stay, yet we are as sure to see failures 
and loss in the future as in the past. Over-production is certain 
and inevitable, which will be followed by low prices upon all hops 
and almost a total obliteration of value in low grades. 




CHAPTER XII. 

HOP HOUSES — METHOD OF HEATING— -FAN-BLAST PROCESS. 

S before stated the drying is the most particular, most 
important and most difficult part of hop culture. Any 
"^^^ one can grow good hops with l)ut little skill ; it would be 
a wonder if he cured them properly without experience, 
or instruction or both. No one however, can turn off good hops 
unless he has the " tools " to do it with. This implies quantity 
(extent) of his drying capacity as well as quality, (convenience) 
for a given quantity of hops to be dried. A person can no more 
produce "gilt-edge" hops where his drying capacity is limited, 
than he could make " gilt-edge butter " when he had to " run the 
heat up " to get through churning in a hurry. Either product 
may look well at first, without a critical examination, but both are 
as certainly injured, and will eventually have to be sold at a low 
price. Two pounds of dried hops to the square foot of floor- 
surface each day is as much as should be done during an average 
of the season. True much more is done in numerous cases, but 
what is here meant, where the best quality of hops are expected. 
The picking season should not last over twenty days from the 
date of beginning till the last hop is picked. This implies not 
over eighteen days for drying. Working by this rule, it is easy 
for a new beginner to approximate as to what size kiln he will 
want, judging by the yield his neighbors are getting upon similar 
soil. If no hops are to be baled before the picking is finished, 
then a warehouse of the same size as the kiln, with eighteen feet 
walls, will hold the crop, but may possibly require settling a little, 
and from which no harm will come if the hops are properly cured ; 
if crowded for room, a few can easily be baled before the picking 
is all done, and which is greater economy than to provide an excess 
of storage capacity. Many practice moving their hops ; forking 
them over to insure their keeping ; a better method is to cure them 
sufficiently so that they will keeo without this. The best way is 

(50 



52 



to have room enough, so as not to be compelled to cure but one 
flooring a day on each kiln, and let the hops lie without moving 
until partially cooled. 

Latterly the tendency is to build larger houses, for the sake of 
economy; I would say not to build over twenty-four feet square 
at most. A single stove with large and abundant pipe will 
furnish ample heat for this size; but no more during a cool night. 
The walls of the house should be twenty-two feet high, with a steep 
hip-roof, (as shown in the cut,) and should be plastered up to 
the top of the ventilator, to give draft to the kiln. The floor should 
be seventeen feet from the ground, and is made of slats covered 
with light, open cloth, usually light burlaps. Some use ordinary 
house-lining. 




Fig. s- — Wood Stove. 



53 

The stove for heating (shown in cut, fig. 5.) weighs about 1,000 
pounds, and is made of heavy, cast-iron plates with a grate bottom. 
The whole is set on brick work and should have a deep ash-pit, or 
else the grates will speedily burn out and give trouble. Not less 
than thirteen-inch pipe should be used and be attached to a T. 
so the pipe will go both ways, half around the room, not less than 
two feet from the wall, and meet at the opposite side from the 
stove. 

The stove should be large enough to admit of wood four feet long, 
and placed so the door is about one foot inside the wall of the 
building, which is cut away more than twice the width of the stove. 
Brick work is built diagonally from the corners of the stove to the 
walls of the building, the whole being so arranged that the fires 
are built without going inside the house. Some place the front 
of the stove, flush with the walls, leaving a space of four or six 
inches open aboye the stove, with a protecting lining of tin, which 
with the draught of cold air rushing into the building, secures the 
wall from taking fire. The back end of the ash-pit should be 
closed with a door that can be easily opened. The pit is fre- 
quently cleaned by raking the accumulating coals and ashes into 
the building. This is safer than taking out from the front, espec- 
ially in windy weather, and besides is a saving of heat. A small 
pully is fastened to the joist immediately under the hop floor and 
in the centre of the room. An endless cord is run on this to 
which a thermometer is attached. A pane of glass is set in the 
wall and the cord run through, above and below the glass, so ar- 
ranged that the thermometer can be run down in sight without 
going into the building to ascertain the temperature of the air 
going through the hops. 

Coal is the best fuel with which to dry hops and where available 
and cheap should be used. A steadier heat and more even tem- 
perature can be kept with coal, than with wood. The attention 
required is very much less. Three or four fires during a night 
will keep the heat up, while with dry wood, fuel must be added at 
short intervals. 

The stoves required for burning coal, (see fig. 6) manufactured 
by Mr. Beardsley, are described as " 48 inches high, and 24 and 
30 inches (two sizes) in diameter; all cast iron. The stove and 



54 

ash-pit are formed by three, heavy, conical rings, requiring no 
bolts or rods, rendering it very substantial, and requiring no 
brick work to set it on." 



Fig. 6. — Coal Stove. 

The grate shakes two ways, and when dumped, tips toward the 
door of the ash-pit, which makes it very convenient to remove 
the ashes. The fire can be kept burning any length of time, as 
there is an opening in the side of the stove, through which a 
poker can be used to remove the clinkers. 

Wood, three feet long, can likewise be burned in these stoves, 
and some should be secured in any event, to provide for an emer- 
gency in the contingency of wanting a quick heat. 

Where practicable, the house is built near a bank or side hill ; 
in such cases the hops are delivered on the upper floor with but 
little expense. Where the ground is level, some build an in- 
clined walk, upon which to carry the hops. This is very labori- 
ous, and results in loss of time. The most approved plan is to 
build a platform, twenty-four feet wide, alongside of the house. 



55 

on a level with the floor, and four feet below this a driveway, 
twelve feet wide, for teams, as shown in the cut. A double kiln, 
each twenty-four by twenty-four feet, with driveway, platform, 
stoves and warehouse will cost nearly two thousand dollars, fully 
completed and well painted. Such will cure from two thousand 
to two thousand five hundred pounds a day. The plan, as here 
shown, is arranged with the warehouse separate from the kilns as 
a security against loss in case of fire. The dried hops are carried 
over to the warehouse in a light frame work covered with or- 
dinary burlap. This arrangement affords an excellent oppor- 
tunity to empty the hops so the whole crop will be thoroughly 
mixed. 

FAN-BLAST PJIOCESS. 

The fan-blast process, as practiced by the writer for five years 
past, does not differ in principle to the ordinary method of curing 
hops, by passing a current of heated air through them and not 
drying by radiated heat. The sole object of the fan is to hasten 
the process, and at the same time be able to cure at a low tem- 
perature. 

Every lady in the land knows that the clothes on the line will dry 
more rapidly when the wind blows than when calm, and so it is 
with our hops on the floor, the stronger the current of air we can 
bring in contact with them, the more rapidly they will cure at any 
given temperature. It would be possible, but probably with us in 
our climate, not practicable, to cure hops by forcing through them 
a heavy volume from the open air. In the warmer climates and 
particularly where there are warm nights this undoubtedly could 
be done. 

This is not a patent-right fixture, but is free to all. True there 
is a patent on a certain manner of applying the blast on the fur- 
nace, but which is not essential to the economical use of the 
process. The principle has long been understood in Europe and 
applied by the use of a suction fan at the top of the building to 
accelerate the current by causing a vacuum above the hops. 

A building where this process is used need not be so high as 
in the ordinary draft kiln. We find in practice, that the pressure 
in the room below the hops, caused by the fan, gives the same 



56 

temperature of air, at the lower part of the room, as directly under 
the hops, hence, if the heater is located outside the building in 
a brick arch, connecting with it, as it should be, the space below 
the first floor need not be but a few feet above the ground. We 
are using an ordinary draft kiln, making the room below the hops 
air-tight. The fan is outside of the building, and is driven at a 
high rate of speed by steam. An air-tight box or tube leads from 
the fan to the building, under the foundation, pours the cold 
air under and around the heaters, and is forced up through 
the hops. The hops are placed '* waist deep," and cure speedily 
and evenly. We generally lay floorings three feet deep, In the 
early part of the season, and can take them ofl" in ten hours. 
The beauty of this process is that the hops all over the floor 
cure evenly, not leaving any moist lumps or spots so often found 
(or left) in the ordinary methods. 

The sulphur is burned outside the building, in close proximity 
to the fan, where the fumes are drawn into and through the fan, 
and is distributed evenly through the hops, and can be more con- 
veniently applied than in an ordinary draft kiln. Although we 
cannot speak from experience, yet there is no doubt but the air 
could, with great economy, be forced through a second or even a 
third flooring of hops, with but a light addition of heat. We 
have had one house, an ordinary draft kiln, with double floors, and 
found that we could use the air a second time with good results, 
but discontinued the plan when building others, for movable 
floors as shown in the frontispiece. 





CHAPTER Xlir. 

ENGLISH METHODS. 

'S England is the great hop market of the world, and con- 
sumes our surplus, when their market requires it, a short 
account of their methods, crops, cost and productive 
capacity will not only be interesting to the hop grower, 
but in numerous ways, instructive. The conditions are different, 
and in many things not applicable to the hop grower of the United 
States, particularly those of Washington Territory, yet we have 
much to learn from them. 

The information in this chapter is principally drawn from the 
English work, " Hops, from the Set to the Skylights," by Charles 
Whitehead, and published in 1881, by Wilson & Co., Royal Ex- 
change Place, London, and sold at two shillings. It is a work 
that will well repay a careful perusal by every hop grower in 
America. 

As early as 1808, there was 38,436 acres of hops under cultiva- 
tion, in England. This was gradually increased, until there were 
50,000 acres in 1820. From this time the acreage decreased for 
fourteen years, with variations, reaching the lowest in 1849, there 
being then 42,798 acres ; but between these dates having reached 
55,422 acres in 1836. From 1850 to 1861, inclusive, there was 
an average of 48,871 acres. For the subsequent period, where 
there were returns, viz: from 1866 to 1880, inclusive, the average 
acreage was 65,076; the highest of any one year, 1878, showing 
71,789; ending in 1880, with 66,703. The average yield, from 
1808 to 1 86 1, inclusive, was 696 pounds per acre. 

To propagate, cuttings are planted in nurseries, and there cul- 
tivated one year. These " sets " are then carefully transplanted 
to where the future hop yard is to be, and there cultivated. No 
return is expected or obtained the first year, and not a full crop 
until the third year. Upon the uplands, the yards fail in from 
fourteen to sixteen years, and are plowed up. In the valley land, 

(57) 



58 

of which there is but a small area, the hops continue to thrive for 
an undetermined length of time, presumably forever, if continued 
manuring is resorted to and the missing hills replaced. 

Early growth of vines is thought not to be the best, as if over- 
taken with sharp frosts, they are injured for the whole season ; 
therefore, the " dressing " (grubbing as we term it) and hill man- 
uring is not done until late in the spring. It is thought that vines 
which do not start until May, are best ; meantime the whole surface 
of the land has been carefully dug over by hand, with a tool 
styled a "spud," being a three-pronged instrument, used as a 
spade. 

The after-culture is done with an implement termed a "nidgett," 
being simply what we call a cultivator. The cultivation is con- 
tinued until harvest begins, though late in the season, shallow 
cultivation is recommended, though not practiced by all. 

Several varieties are usually cultivated with a view of extend- 
ing the picking season, by planting the late and early kinds ; 
some planters having as many as five varieties in one yard. More 
than twenty distinct varieties are mentioned, with numerous minor 
subdivisions, most suited to the different soils of the hop districts 
of England. 

The enemies and diseases of the hop plantations are numerous 
and serious. Insects, blights and mould often destroys the crop 
entirely, or curtails the yield greatly, and injures the quality of 
what is produced. First the wire worm, or " click-beetle," attacks 
the new plantations, destroying the sets or eating the young 
growths under the ground. Then the flea infests the vines and 
leaves, sucking the sap, and finally attack the new formed hop, 
and in some cases the full grown. Then comes the "fly," a 
greater pest than either of those first described, called " the 
barometer of poverty," and " which often have changed in a few 
short weeks the appearance of the whole of the plantations in 
the United Kingdom, from the prospects of a plenteous crop to 
the blackness of utter blight." "A system of washing the plants 
with soap and water squirted over them, from garden engines, with 
hose and spray jets, was introduced about eighteen years 
ago, and now is regularly adopted by many planters when 
there are signs of blight." *' This operation must be per- 



59 

formed by careful men, and the vine and leaves on each pole 
must be thoroughly washed, so as to dislodgfe every winged-aphis 
and every louse." " If all are not removed, the plants will be 
just as foul in a few days after as they were before the process." 
When the attack is late the washing is useless, and nothing can 
save the crop. Numerous instances are cited where the average 
yield for a given year was no more than one hundred and fifty 
pounds per acre, and doubtless the yield per acre for the year 
1882 was no more. 

There is a red spider that attacks the yards at times, but are 
often checked in their ravages, by a change in the weather. For 
these, washing the vines will do no good, and sulphur will 
not have the slightest effect. Other bugs and insects are men- 
tioned as more or less troublesome, but none so formidable as those 
heretofore referred to. Mr, Whitehead, says : " Passing from the 
insect enemies of the hop plant to the diseases which befall it, 
the first to be noted in the latter category is ' mould,' or mildew, 
which has proved even more disastrous to hop planters than the 
blight caused by aphides. For this, sulphur is applied as in the 
case of blight, and * many planters sprinkle the hop plants with 
sulphur, as a matter of ordinary routine, just as they dig, or pole, 
or manure them, whether there are indications of mould or not,' 
This is repeated three or even four times during the season." 

The hop yards must be regularly manured to insure a crop. 
Our authority, previously quoted, says, on this point: *' After the 
hops have been manured in the winter, with, it may be twenty tons 
of farm -yard manure, at a cost of £"] or ^8 per acre, or with 
shoddy or rags at a cost of ^^5 or £(y per acre, it is the practice 
of some of the most enterprising farmers to put half a ton of rape 
dust around the hills, or two and a half cwt. of nitrate of soda, or 
four or five cwt. of guano, or other stimulating manures. It very 
frequently happens that the manure put on an acre of hops, in one 
season, has cost from ^10 to ^12." 

Two, and sometimes even as many as four poles are set to the 
hill, varying in length from nine to eighteen feet, according to the 
kind of hops raised and the strength of the land, and are set the 
same as in the American method, described elsewhere. These 
cost, in some extreme cases, three hundred dollars per acre, and 



6o 

have cost in recent years an average of nearly two hundred dol- 
lars per acre. Mr. Whitehead, says : " During the last three years 
(prior to 1881) there has been a great decrease in the value of 
wood -land, owing to the failure of the hop crop, and in this last 
winter it has been difficult to find buyers for the falls in many 
places. Directly hops pay well again, prices will revert to their 
former standard." 

As many as one hundred thousand hop pickers " Come from 
the courts and alleys of London " in seasons of plenty. They are 
carried to the hop district on cheap excursion trains, and are to a 
considerable extent controlled by a society established for the pur- 
pose of engaging help, and which has established certain rules for 
their care, under sanction of the local government. They pick in 
boxes or large baskets holding twenty bushels and have a box- 
tender to every ten pickers. The pickers are paid an average 
price of two pence per bushel. The hops are sacked to carry to 
the kiln, as in New York and not hauled in the boxes as in Wash- 
ington Territory. 

The hop houses or dry kilns, (oast houses as they are called) 
are generally built of brick or stone, frequently round, and some- 
times with two floors. The drying is done by building an open 
fire, with Welsh anthracite coal, fed by charcoal. The temperature 
is run low, 125° Fahrenheit being considered high and one hun- 
dred to one hundred and ten, is considered the highest heat admis- 
sible without injury, from fifteen to twenty pounds of brimstone 
is burned to a ton of hops, generally soon after the process of 
drying begins. The hops are baled directly after they are dry, 
while hot, and if not ready to receive them in the baler, are put in 
piles to keep them warm, to prevent the absorption of moisture 
from the atmosphere. Almost all are sold through the factors 
(commission) who sells to the merchant, and they in turn to the 
brewer. Many growths go from generation to generation to the 
same house as soon as packed. Each bale or bag is sampled, and 
in addition to that are carefully probed with a tryer, and the cloth 
sometimes stripped off entirely to give opportunity for thorough 
examination. 

The cost of preparing the land, supplying sets, setting out 
stakes first year, manuring, cultivating, interest and rent of land 



6i 

for an acre of hops is $208.00. This does not include poles, which 

are accounted for in an annual charge afterwards ; neither for the 

cost of buildings. 

Table, showing the annual outlay upon an acre of hops in full 

bearing, reduced to our currency : 

Manuring, carting and spreading, ^38 72 

Digging, or plowing and digging, 5 o<S 

Dressing, i 44 

Poling, 3 60 

Tying, ^ 3 36 

Pulling vines, earthing, etc., 96 

Ladder tying, i 92- 

Keeping land clean around hills, " . . i 92 

Nidgetting, (cultivating) and harrowing, 8 88. 

Annual average supply of poles, 25 40 

Stripping, stacking poles, etc., 2 22 

All expenses, picking, drying, selling an average of 696 

pounds, 54 69 

Rents, rates, tithes, taxes and repair of oasts, etc., ... 26 40 
Interest on capital, 14 52 

$189 II 
Average cost, 2'jye 

Where sulphuring is done, $8.00 per acre more must be charged ; 
if washing is done, $17.00 more must be added to the annual 
outlay, bringing the cost of producing a pound of hops to nearly 
if not quite, thirty cents per pound. 




CHAPTER XIV. 



HOP CULTURE IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 



BY W. A. LAWRENCE, 



Waterville, Oneida County, New York. 




I. THE GROWTH AND EXTENT OF THE INDUSTRY. 

EN are still living who can remember the first hop yard, 
planted in the State of New York. It was set out by 
James D. Cooledge, in the town of Madison, (about six 
miles south of Waterville) in the year 1808. His 
neighbors, from year to year, obtained from him a few roots and 
set out small patches. The culture made but slow progress. The 
price ruled generally about twelve cents per pound, and the hops 
had to be hauled with ox teams, 100 miles to Albany, for sale. 
Four acres was then considered a very large plantation. The 
brewers then looked upon any American hop as far inferior to any 
English hop, and the American brewers prided them.selves on im- 
porting their hops from London. This little hop-colony, in what 
was then the backwoods, in the centre of the great State of New 
York, was struggling with poverty, in the midst of an almost un- 
broken forest, and their presses and hop kilns were of the rudest 
description. But the hops raised on this soil, were found to be 
full of lupuline, rich and sound, and in spite of prejudice they 
worked their way into favor on a small scale. 
(62) 



63 

The crops were heavy and 2.000 pounds to the acre was not 
considered an uncommon yield. The low price could not crush 
out the enterprise, so long as these large yields made up a fair 
return as compared widi wheat and potatoes, and so these yards 
increased slowly for the first ten years. In 1822, however, some 
previous bad failures in England had cut off from the American 
brewers their supply of English hops, (the price in London in 
1816 was 77 cents and in 1817 it was $1.44 per pound,) and some 
of these same New York State hops were sold by the grower in 
Albany for $1.50 per pound. 

That gave the industry a fresh start. Its success was assured. 
It spread into adjoining counties. But still the bulk of the hops 
in the United States was raised east of the Hudson River, and in 
the states of Massachussetts and Vermont. Even as late as 1839 
the State of New York raised only 07ie-third of the entire crop of 
The United States. But in 1849 New York State raised five- 
sevenths of the entire crop of the United States and in 1859 seveji- 
eighths. 

The New England (or so-called " Eastern ") hops could not 
hold their own against the richer hops and heavier crops of New 
York State. But while the New York State hop seems to keep 
up its reputation for quality, the quantity per acre has sadly fallen 
off since those good old times of a ton to the acre. 

The present yield per acre throughout the State and the present 
extent of the hop industry here is best shown by the latest relia- 
ble figures we have ; those of the United States Census of 1880, 
in which the figures are those of the crop of 1879. 

These statistics were sent to me direct from the Census Office, 
at Washington, and I have found them substantially correct. 

Extent of Hop Culture in New York State, in 1879. 

There are four coundes in New York, any one of which raises 
more hops than the whole State of Wisconsin, or California, and 
for the sake of showing the relative standing of the counties in 
1879, I have figured out the average production per acre in each 
of the twenty principal hop-growing counties and have prepared 
the following table for convenient reference : 



64 



NEW YORK STATE HOPS. 



Counties. Pounds, hops 
raised, 1879. 

Otsego, 4,441,029 

Oneida, 4,075,651 

Madison 3,823,963 

Schoharie, 2,982,873 

Franklin, 1,083,850 

Montgomery, 1,001,403 

Ontario, 807,528 

Herkimer, 512,963 

Lewis, 398,201 

Livingston, 310,574 

Chenango, 302,857 

Onondaga, 281,892 

Oswego, 198,309 

Delaware, 190,793 

Monroe, 181,312 

St. Lawrence, .... 177,866 

Wayne, i45,573 

Jefferson, ; . 135,955 

Albany, 123,182 

Genesee, 121,813 

Twenty principal hop- 
raising counties, . , 21,297,587 

Twenty other hop-rais- 
ing counties, .... 435,734 

Sixteen counties ... . .- '. . 

Total in N. Y. State, . 21,733,331 lbs. 



Icres in 


Average lbs. 


hops. 


per acre. 


9,118 


487 


5,737 


710 


6,076 


629 


5,871 


508 


2,075 


522 


1,612 


621 


],282 


630 


972 


528 


828 


481 


422 


736 


794 


382 


489 


576 


622 


319 


569 


335 


245 


740 


331 


537 


189 


770 


269 


505 


243 


507 


185 


658 



37,929 — 562 lbs av. to acre. 
943 — 462 lbs. av. to acre. 



38,872 acres — 559 lbs. av. to 
acre. 



With this table before us we observe: i. A solid block of 
four counties, Otsego, Oneida, Madison and Schoharie, which 
produce more than two-thirds of all the hops raised in the State 
and more than half of the whole crop of America. Of these four, 
Otsego takes the lead in acreage and pounds produced, but 
Oneida is easily first in productiveness, giving 710 pounds per 
acre to Otsego 487. 2. Another remarkable group of counties 
we find in Ontario, Livingston, Monroe and Wayne, all close to- 
gether and about a hundred miles west of the first group. Onta- 
rio is the seventh county in the State in order of acreage and 
pounds produced, but among these seven, it is second only to 
Oneida county, in point of yield per acre ; while its companions in 
the group, Livingston, Monroe and Wayne, show the highest 
yields per acre in the whole State. One would expect in counties 



65 

favored like these, in point of productiveness, to see a large and 
rapidly increasing- acreage, but the fact is that the large yield per 
acre is owing a good deal to the yards being confined to some 
narrow and fertile spot, as for instance, the Rose Valley farms, in 
Wayne county. Were the acreage extended over the whole 
county, as in Otsego and Oneida, the yield per acre would fall off 
materially. We can see by the figures, however, that taken 
together, the yield of hops per acre, determines whether a county, 
as a whole, will develop into a hop-growing county or not. The 
twenty principal counties, give an average yield of 562 pounds to 
the acre ; while the twenty-four other counties, in which hops are 
raised, give an average yield of just 100 pounds to the acre, less. 

COMPARISON WITH OTHER HOP REGIONS OF THE UNITED 
STATES, IN 1879. 

Turning now to compare the whole State with other hop 
regions, we find: 

Crop , 1879. Pounds. Acres. Ave. lbs. 

per acre. 

New York, 21,733,331 38,872 559 

Wisconsin, 1,966,427 4,438 443 

California, 1,426077 1,119 1,274 

Washington Territory, 703,277 534 i,3i7 

We notice at once the remarkable difference in the yield per 
acre of these, our four leading hop States. Washington Territory 
easily takes the lead in productiveness. The wonderful growth 
of hop culture in that Territory, is well set forth in another part 
of this book by Mr. Meeker, who is the largest hop grower in 
that Territory or in the United States. With the acreage on the 
Pacific Slope, averaging nearly three pounds to that of Wisconsin's 
one pound, it is no wonder that the Wisconsin acreage, since 
1879, has fallen off nearly one-half, while that of the Pacific 
Slope, and especially of Washington Territory, is increasing 
enormously. It must be remembered that the crop of 1879, all 
over the country, was somewhat lighter than the usual crops, and 
that, perhaps, twenty per cent, may be added to the above figures 
to make a full, average crop. 
5 




CHAPTER XV. 

SOIL AND CLIMATE OF THE HOP REGIONS IN THE STATE OF NEW 

YORK. 

E have already drawn attention to the fact that the great 
//\^l hop-raising counties of New York State, which pro- 
duce more than half the hops raised in America, are 
in one solid block. From a point about lOO miles north of New 
York City, they extend northward about fifty miles and westward 
about 150 miles. The climate is cold in winter, the mercury 
often reaching twenty to thirty degrees below zero in the coldest 
weather. In summer it is seldom oppressively hot, but the 
seasons open early and the frosts come late, (not often before the 
ist of November) so that the hops have plenty of time to develop 
and mature. 

The face of the country is made up of great rolling hills with 
the valleys between, and generally from 500 to i ,500 feet above 
the level of the sea. These great hills are fertile to their very 
tops, taking kindly to sod and to all sweet grasses, and the region 
is famous for its dairy products as well as its hops. The soil is 
mostly a gravelly loam. There is plenty of limestone cropping 
out of the whole region here and there, and the small cobblestones 
which abound are largely fossiliferous, made up of the petrified 
remains of small shellfish, and to this circumstance I attribute a 
good deal of the richness of the hops grown on this soil. The yards 
are planted both in the valleys and on the hills, the valley-yards 
having sometimes a slight advantage in richness of soil, and the 
hill-yards a slight advantage in freedom from vermin. Most of 
the land is well adapted to endure drouth. It retains both water 
and manure; in other words, it is not ** leachy," and this is a 
matter of the first importance, for nothing, will diminish the weight 
of a hop crop more certainly than prolonged dry soil in July and 
August. 
(-66) 




CHAPTER XVI. 

METHODS OF HOP CULTURE IN NEW YORK STATE. 

'HERE are almost as many different notions aoout every 
branch of hop cuhure, as there are growers, but it would 
'^^^ take too much space to describe them all, however inter- 
esting and profitable. I shall only attempt to give those methods 
which have stood the test of long experience, and which are 
adopted and practiced by our largest and best growers. 

(l). PLOWING FOR NEW YARDS. 

Where the soil is deep enough the subsoil plow is sometimes 
used, and with good results ; but generally the sod is turned under 
early in the fall, with an eight or ten-inch depth of furrow, and 
then in the spring, is cross-plowed and well harrowed to pieces. 
Potatoes or corn raised one year on land, bef3re setting to hops, 
make a mellower soil the first year, but most prefer to let the hops 
have the first benefit of the rich sod. When the sod is not turned 
under early enough in the fall (and the ist of September is not 
too early) to get well rotted by spring, good farmers do not dis- 
turb the sod by cross-plowing in spring, but harrow first length- 
wise then crosswise of the furrows till the surface is mellow. 

(2). ROOTS AND THEIR VARIETIES HERE. 

The standard hop in this section, and the one from which most 
sets are taken for new yards, is now the English Cluster. It is a 
strong and large vine, a good "climber," and bears a good crop 
of rich hops of a fine golden color when well handled. 

The " Grape" Hop is a very rich hop, but the vine is not so 
hardy, or so strong a climber as the "English Cluster," and the 
" Grape " roots are seldom called for. The Humphrey Seedling 
is an excellent hop of fine flavor, and has come largely into culti- 
vation about Waterville, within three or four years, though it 
originated in Wisconsin. Last year (crop of 1882) the Humph- 
reys generally came down with a rather light crop, as compared 
with the English Clusters alongside. But the Humphrey is a 
week earlier than the English Cluster, and came in contact, while 
just " in the burr," with a dry, hot spell which the English Cluster, 

(67) 



68 

being not yet in this critical state, escaped. Lice are very fond 
of the Humphrey, but the week earHer picking has so far rescued 
these hops from any special damage. 

The Palmer Seedling is a week earlier still than the Humphrey 
Seedling, but though a fine hop, in quality, the crop is so small 
that roots of this sort are now seldom set out. 

The " Canada " Hop, from roots brought in here from Canada, 
is perhaps a week later than the English Cluster, at least it will 
" stand " a week later before picking, and on this account, added 
to the fact, that it is a fine hop of excellent flavor and a good 
bearer, the roots are sought after ; but care has to be taken to get 
the " True Canada," as there has been a "bogus" Canada sold 
which has proved a complete failure here. Roots have also been 
brought here from California, and small yards about Waterville, 
set with California hops, promise very well ; but are not yet suffi- 
ciently advanced or extensive, to admit of a fair comparison with 
the established sorts already tested by experience. 

Now with these varieties of roots before us, from which to select 
for a new yard, it must be borne in mind that it is a great object 
to extend the thne for pickmg. In all hop regions there is a great 
scramble for pickers. The grower who can offer the pickers the 
longest job will have first choice. Then even if you can get 
plenty of pickers so as to sweep the hops off a large yard, when 
the hops are just right, you are limited again by your facilities for 
drying, so that with a large yard, all of one sort, the chances are 
that you will have to pick some of your hops too green and lose 
both in weight and quality, or else let some of them stand too 
long. To avoid this, our largest and best growers aim to get in 
from one-third to one-fourth of their acreage in Humphreys, and 
the balance in English Cluster. Some of the more enterprising 
and extensive growers are also aiming at a still later hop than the 
English Cluster. My neighbor, Sylvester Gridley, has what I 
consider a model yard in respect to varieties of hop and propor- 
tion of each, namely : five acres Humphreys, ten acres English 
Cluster, and five acres True Canada. This proportion, one-fourth 
early, one-half medium or main crop, and one-fourth late is very 
desirable for even a hop yard of moderate acreage, if good roots 
of these sorts can be obtained. 



69 

3' MARKING OUT THE GROUND FOR THE HILLS. 

Taking a single acre, and placing the hills on the outer edge, all 
round, will give more hills to that acre than will " pan out " in the 
case of a yard of several acres, for when you set a second acre 
.alongside this first one, the first row of hills in the second acre 
alongside the first will come six, seven, or eight feet back from the 
•outer edge. 

In practice therefore and in round numbers, hills so set that 

the rows are seven feet apart one way and eight feet the other 

will give — 

7 feet by 8 feet, 750 hills to the acre for several acres. 
7 feet by 7 feet, 875 " " " " " 

7 feet by 6 feet, 1,000 " " " " " 

6 feet by 6 feet, 1,200 " " " " *' 

Yards are set out with us at all these various distances for the 
bills. Which is the best ? That depends altogether on the situa- 
tion of the grower as to means of cultivation and obtaining poles. 
If you have plenty of good, deep, rich ground, can get plenty of 
good cedar poles at a reasonable price, and propose to use two 
horses in cultivating between the rows, then I should say the ex- 
perience of our growers is in favor of placing the hills in rows 
seven feet apart one way and eight feet the other way, and using 
two good poles to the hill. By having the rows which run easterly 
and westerly eight feet apart from centre to centre of hill and two 
poles in each hill, the poles standing northerly and southerly 
from each other at right angles to the line of the row, and each 
pole six inches from the centre of the hill, we have a yard in which 
the poles in each hill are spread open to the sun so that the hops 
on one pole will not shade the hops on the other, and there is left 
seven feet each way between the poles for room to cultivate with 
two horses. 

Seven feet by seven is good where land is plenty, and for a 
^'string" yard, or tent yard hereafter described, in which cases 
only one pole to the hill is used, and you can use two horses in 
cultivating. Seven feet by six is good for a yard with two poles 
to the hill where land is an object, and one horse is used to culti- 
vate between the rows. Six feet by six feet is good for a one- 
pole-to-the-hill string yard and for cultivation with one horse. 
Two horses ca7i be used .in a six feet by six feet yard, but most 
of the time it is too close work. 



JO 

Having decided which Is your best distance for the hills, the 
best and quickest method for marking out Is to get a ball of 
strong twine with not too much "stretch " to it. The stretch can 
be taken out, If too great, by dipping the twine In boiled linseed 
oil and drying It in the sun. 

If your field Is of such shape that you propose to have the 
opposite sides run parallel to each other, then for example 
suppose you wish to mark off into rows eight feet by seven feet 
apart. For the rows running northerly and southerly take a part 
of the twine of sufficient length, and by means of bits of bright- 
colored yarn or string, mark It off Into spaces of seven feet each. 

For the rows running easterly and westerly, provide two pieces 
of the twine, each of sufficient length for a row, and marked off 
by bits of bright-colored stuff into spaces of eight feet each. 



NORTH. 

A C 

o o o o o o 



o 

WEST. EAST, 

o 



o o o o o o 

B D 

SOUTH. 

Diagram. 



71 

Now referring to diagram opposite : Stretch your line of seven 
feet spaces from A to B, thus Hning the first row running^ 
northerly and southerly, setting corner sticks at A and B, 
each representing an end hill of that row. Now stretch one 
of your lines of eight feet spaces from A to C, thus lining 
the first row running easterly and westerly, and set a stake 
at C, representing the end hill of that row. Now go to the 
opposite side of the field and stretch the other line of eight feet 
spaces from B to D as nearly parallel to A and C as your eye will 
guide you, and with the line attached to the stake at B, set a stake 
temporarily at D, representing for the moment the end hill of that 
row, the last row running easterly and westerly. Now bring your 
line A and B across to the opposite side of the field and stretch it 
from C to or near D, and from the stake B as a centre, swing the 
line B and D, till the stake D comes to such a point that your 
line brought across from A and B just reaches from C to D. 

The opposite sides of your yard are now parallel, and your 
hills will be in parallel rows both ways. 

You have now only to stick out the hills for the row between C 
and D by sticking one directly under each colored bit on your 
line, one of which bits is over the stake C and another over the 
stake D, which stakes will stand for the corner hills on that side. 
Then carry your line into the field, one eight feet space as shown 
and already measured by the colored bits on the line A and C at 
one end, and the line B and D at the other end. Stick this row, 
and so on through the field. 

I have described this method with more pains, because it pays 
richly to start ofT*'on the square" with a yard you have got to 
work in and have your neighbors "squint at" for ten or fifteen 
years. The sticks to mark each hill are split out of old cedar 
posts or hemlock stuff, and are about fifteen inches in length 
and one-quarter to one-half inch square on the end. 

4. PUTTING IN THE SETS. 

The sets are cut from the " runners " which are roots put forth 
by the hop near the surface of the ground. These runners are 
evidently intended in the main for propagation, for they have to 



72 

be removed from the hill every spring as soon as the ground will 
allow or else they will send up " suckers " or sprouts. As soon as 
these runners are grubbed out they are gathered up and saved or 
sold for new yards. They are sold in the rough as " roots " by 
the bushel or pound, or already cut as "sets " by the thousand. 
For an acre it takes all the way from two to five bushels accord- 
ing to the sort of roots. 

Each set is cut so as to have two joints or sets of " eyes." 
Four sets to the hill is the ordinary allowance with us, but many 
of the best growers now consider three good sets as good as four. 

With the ground staked out for hills, as before described, we 
send a man along with a " hop bar," such as is used for setting 
poles. He pulls up each stick, setting it a little to one side, and 
where the stick was pulled from he makes, with his bar, a hole 
about a foot deep and five inches wide at the top. It is a good 
plan to follow this man with one who carries a pail of "super- 
phosphate," which now costs about two cents a pound by the ton. 
This man pokes a little soil into the bottom of the hole so as to 
make it about nine inches deep. He then puts in about three 
tablespoon fuls of super-phosphate, and pokes in about two inches 
of dirt on top of it so as to keep the sets from contact with the 
super-phosphate and leave the hole now about six inches deep 
and five inches in diameter and ready for the sets. The man 
with the sets places them in the hole with the eyes pointing up- 
ward, and the sets nearly upright surrounding the centre of the 
hole in a circle about three inches in diameter. The dirt is 
pressed firmly around the sets with the fingers and the tops 
covered about two inches deep and the stick stuck back slanting 
over the hill to mark it. Of course any other fertilizer will 
answer in place of the super-phosphate, but few fertilizers are so 
convenient as this, for this purpose, and I know it gives the young 
vines a great start. As to sets for male hills you will probably 
find you have all you want, and more too, as roots are sold now- 
a-days. Four or five hills to an acre are sufficient. 

5. MANURES USED FOR HOPS. 

We see that the very first move in setting the roots in the 
ground for a new yard, has brought us to the subject of fertilizers. 



73 

No matter how well adapted the soil of this great hop section 
may be to the raising of hops, it certainly is not capable of raising 
them profitably, year after year, without the liberal use of fertili- 
zers. 

In general our most prosperous growers are those who are the 
most liberal and painstaking in the matter of manures. 

In the fall, many put two good forkfuls of stable or barnyard 
manure on every hill. It is good not only as a fertilizer, but it 
protects the hill from being injured by the sudden thaws and 
freezes which occur sometimes in midwinter and often toward 
spring. But the supply of manure from cows and horses is but a 
small part of what the large hop grower must have, and there are 
several agencies in Waterville for the sale of concentrated fertili- 
zers. 

The " Super-phosphates " (in which the active principles are 
mainly bone, phosphorus and ammonia) take the lead. Then 
comes Lime, Ashes, " Plaster," and Salt, about in the order of 
mention, and great are the discussions as to their value. One 
grower, for instance, has used slaked hme freely one year with 
great effect, and thinks if he puts on lime every year he can keep 
his yard in good heart with nothing but lime. 

Another has tried lime and would not give a cent a load for it. 
Now in this sketch of Hop-Culture, in New York State, I aim to 
give the practical experience of the best growers, and so in a case 
like this where experience varies so widely I can only say — follow 
the advice of St. Paul : " Prove all things ; hold fast that which is 
good." But there are certain general laws in regard to fertilizers 
which he who follows will not go far wrong. 

(i). The dung of horses, cows, hogs, and in fact of all animals, 
contains all the valuable elements necessary for the growth of 
plants, and is therefore the safest and surest manure, and the first 
to be obtained if possible. 

(2). The flesh and bones of animals, such as the refuse of 
slaughter houses, comes next to dung in valuable elements, and in 
this lies the secret of the much-prized "super-phosphates." 

(3). Next after animal matter, as a fertilizer, comes vegetable 
matter. The trouble with vegetable matter is that it decomposes 
slowly, and the effect is not quick enough to satisfy the impatient 



74 

grower. But forest leaves, meadow " muck," and straw, are slow 
but sure mayiures, and a compost heap (to help along the rotting 
process), let stand till well rotted and spread on a hop yard, will 
pay better in the end than most of the chemical and commercial 
fertilizers. 

(4). Ashes is concentrated from vegetable matter by combustion, 
and, bringing a large constituent of the hop (potash) with it, is 
always a positive and active fertilizer. But Lime, " Plaster," and 
Salt, are often useful, not so much by what they bring with them as 
by dissolving what is already there in the soil, and digesting it so 
that the hop roots can absorb it. These chemical *' manures" 
therefore may prove very valuable, the first year, as solvents of 
what is already in the soil, but after that future applications may 
do no good till fresh vegetable viatter is first supplied. 

It is no doubt owing to the operation of this law, that these 
chemical fertilizers do their best work in our best yards — those 
which are " rich in all the elements of fertility," but needing a 
solvent to render these elements at once available for food to the 
hop roots. 





CHAPTER XVII. 



"VARIOUS METHODS OF SUPPORTING THE VINES. 

'OP poles have always been an important factor in the 
cost of starting a hop yard. At the present writing 
this is particularly so, caused by the enormous demand 
and increased cost of poles, as will be seen by the 
following schedule of prices. 

Hop pole^ delivered here : Canada cedar poles, 

i6 to i8 feet long, 2X to 3 inches at butt, nets. 

18 to 20 " 2;4 to 4 " " 15 " 

22 and over, 3^ to 5 " " 24 " 

Michigan, 20 to 25 feet, 17 " 

I should say that the number of poles brought by railroad into 
Waterville, within the year would be something like 400,000. 

The largest poles are used for the " tent " yards, and the 
smallest are worked in on young yards and to patch up in old and 
unthrifty yards. It will be seen at once from the above prices 
that the item of poles absorbs a large amount of capital in exten- 
sive hop growing. An acre of 750 hills, two poles to the hill, 
calls for 1,500 poles at fifteen cents each, $225, and in ten or 
fifteen years the poles are practically worthless. It is not strange, 
therefore, that the hop-grower and his sanguine friend, the patent 
right man, have been busy for many years trying to devise some 
way to hold up the hop-vines and at the same time get rid of 
at least a part of this great expense for poles. The cheapest 
of all these contrivances in original expense is undoubtedly the 

(75) 



76 



(l). HORIZONTAL " STRING " YARD. 

I have before me a description of one of the yards, written by a 
practical hop-grower of Otsego County, New York, in 1864. It 
was a *' patent " ($10 per acre for the right to use it), and called for 
stakes (one to each hill) eight or nine feet long, sawed one and 
one-quarter inches square and set one foot deep in the ground. 
There was an outer row of stakes two and one-half inches square, 
and the tops of all the stakes are connected by a twine running 
across the yard both ways tied to the outer stakes only, and 
wound once round the inner ones. He gives an estimate of the 
cost of preparing a yard for the vines in this way, and (including 
$10 per acre for the right to use it) places the cost per acre at 
$36, as against the cost of a yard with two long poles to the hill, 
(poles at twenty cents each) placed at $297. He further says, *' I 
consider this plan as far superior to the common plan with long 
poles, as the mower and horse-rake are to the haying implements 
used by the last generation." 

Here, then, we have a plan which had been used to some extent 
for three years in Otsego County, previous to 1864, and then 
highly recommended by a good hop grower, with a saving of 
$250 on every acre, in its favor. But now, twenty years later, the 
two long poles to the hill are found in three acres out of four in 
our hop-yards proudly holding up their burden of hops, while the 
Horizontal String Yard is almost forgotten. There are many 
reasons why it did not make its way on trial year after year. 

The hanging "arms" interfere with later cultivation. The 
strings sometimes break, and anyhow it is continual trouble to 
keep the vines on them through high winds, and running in this 
umiatiiral, horizontal position. The natural course of the hop 
vine is an upward, spiral, twisting round "with the sun," and who- 
ever tries to run it horizontally, and thus against nature has " a 
hard row to hoe." I make a special example of this " Horizontal 
String " system, in order to show how necessary it is to go slow 
in adopting a new system. Setting this "Horizontal String" 
system down then, as cheap but unsuccessful, we pass on to 



77 



(2). THE OLD-FASHIONED "EIGHT-STRING TENT " YARD. 

Beginning on one side of the yard and with the row of hills 
next to the outside row, set a tent pole in the second hill of this 
second row and one in the fourth hill and so on, each alternate 
hill through the row, and each alternate row parallel with the hrst 
one set, so that there shall be first a stake hill and then a tent pole 
in every direction throughout the field. 





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Fig. 7. — Diagram of Eight-String Tent Yard. 



Referring to the diagram the large dots represent the tent 
poles, the small dots represent the stakes, and the Hues represent 
the strings, converging from the stakes upward to the top of the 
tent poles, one pole in each " tent " hill. These poles are selected 
ones, and should be not less than five inches at butt and not less 
than twenty-two feet long. The stakes are five or six feet long so 
as to set one foot deep in the hill, and are made from old poles, or 
cut in the woods, or made of sawed stuff, one and one-half inches 
square on the end. In setting the yard it is found best and 



78 

quickest to first set the stakes and poles, just fitting- the poles in 
the ground temporarily and setting the stakes permanently. 
Then two men with as many balls of string as there are to be 
strings to a pole enter the yard, take down the first pole, lay the 
ends of the strings together, and tie them in a stout knot round 
the pole at a point, sixteen feet above the sharpening (so it will be 
sixteen feet above the ground when the pole is set), then set the 
pole permanently, carry each ball of hop-twine to its stake, cnt 
and tie, and so on through the yard. 

Two vines are run to each string. The outside rows may be 
set with ordinary poles and four vines run up, branching two to 
string and two up pole. 

(3). THE MORE RECENT SIX-STRING TENT YARD. 

Referring to the diagram of the eight-string tent yard, we ob- 
serve that the stakes have each two strings, calling for four vines 
to each hill, except the stake in the centre of each square of four 
tent hills which stake has four strings, calling for eight vines. 
This is too much for that hill. Accordingly the rule now is to 
omit on these stakes the strings which I have marked a on the 
preceding diagram (Fig. 7), and the result is that each stake hill 
has four vines, each outside row of tent poles seven strings, (ex- 
cept the corner hills, eight), and all the other tent poles, six strings 
each, and two vines up each tent pole. The outside rows, poles 
of ordinary size instead of stakes. 

These "tent" yards have one advantage and one or two dis- 
advantages. The advantage is in the beginning ; in the saving 
of outlay on poles. For a yard with two poles to the hill, the ex- 
pense for poles ready to set is now about $250 per acre. The in- 
terest on the money is (at six per cent.) $15 per year, and the 
shrinkage on the poles (to last ten years) $25 per year, making 
$40 per year, for the yard with two poles to the hill. 

For a tent yard the cost for poles and stakes ready to set is 
about $50 per acre. 

Interest on money, l3-oo per year. 

Shrinkage on poles and stakes, 5.00 " 

Cost for strings about 5.00 " 

Making a total of I13.00 for the tent yard. 



79 

This makes a difference, in favor of the tent yard, of $27 per 
year on each acre, as far as expense is concerned. 

This is the advantage. The drawbacks are — 

First. Bringing so many strings together at one point, tends 
to crowd the hops ; and with a heavy crop some of the hops 
may be " light " both in weight and quaUty. 

Seco7id. A heavy wind or thunder storm is rather harder on 
a tent yard than on one with two poles to the hill, and if any 
breakage occurs it is harder to repair, and sometimes impos- 
sible. 

When both these drawbacks operate in a singly year as 
they sometimes do against a tent yard, the weight of hops 
lost, more than counterbalances the saving in poles. 

Still the saving in original outlay is so considerable, that 
many of our best growers have a part of their yards set with tent 
poles. 



(4). THE HALF-TENT YARD. 

In this yard the outside row is double poled or a pole of ordi- 
nary size, and stake to each hill. The next row has one good 
pole to each hill and two or three vines to this pole. The next 
row is one of stakes ; the next row one of poles, and so on 
through the yard. Each row of stakes has four vines to each 
stake and two strings ; each leading two vines to the poles on op- 
posite sides of the stakes as in the full tent yard. This brings 
only two strings to each tent pole on opposite sides of it, and is 
free from most of the danger of overloading and crowding which 
occurs in a full tent yard. But it requires double the poles of a full 
tent yard, and so where economy is the object, the growers go the 
whole figure to the full tent, and this half-tent yard is not very 
common. 

But there is a yard which is a happy medium between the full 
string, or tent system, and the full pole, or two-poles-to-the-hill 
system. It has been tried by some of our best growers. It is 
much liked. It is being adopted by others. There is no patent 
x)n it. I shall take the liberty to call it, in my opinion — 



8o 



(5). THE BEST POLE AND STRING YARD. 

This yard has one pole to each hill, except that the outside 
rows, on two of the opposite sides, of the yard, have two poles to 
each hill. It thus has this advantage over a yard with two poles 
to the hill, that it practically saves half the poles, or a saving of 
expense at the outset of nearly $125 per aere. But there being 
but one pole to the hill, renders it unnecessary to put the hills seven 
by eight feet. They can as well be put at equal distances ; and I 
have the opinion of good growers, like Morris Terry for instance, 
that a yard set in this way with hills seven by seven or even 
eight by seven, will produce rather more hops of equally good 
quality, and with less risk of damage by wind, than a yard with 
two poles to the hill. But it must be remembered that hills seven 
by seven, with two outside rows, double poled, call for about 1,000 
poles to the acre, so that the saving at first is not so very great : 
say about $75 per acre for same style of poles. And even this 
saving is further reduced by the fact that the poles for this yard 
should all be good ones, not so large as full tent poles, but 
selected ones about twenty feet long and four Inches at the butt. 
The extra cost of these poles will bring the saving down to about 
$50 per acre at the start. 

Then charging this yard with $3 a year for string, and charg- 
ing the yard of two poles to the hill with ten per cent, shrinkage 
on the extra $50 worth of poles ($5) and $3 interest we have left 
in favor of this pole and string yard, a balance of only $3, less in 
expense, per year, to each acre. This saving is not worth speak- 
ing of, and therefore I do not give it my preference as a cheap 
yard but as a good one. 

It will bear every hop that the ground can produce. It will 
hold them up strong and well-spread apart, and exposed to the 
sun. Each pole is braced against wind, by strings to other poles, 
and there is less breaking of the tender " arms," less " whipping," 
in high winds, than there is with two poles to the hill. 

Referring now to the diagram of this yard, (Fig. 8.) Begin- 
ning at the corner " A" with the yard to the front and right, we 
first set the outside row "A," " B," " C " and so on, two poles to the 



8i 



BEST STRING AND POLE YARD. 




Fig. 



Diagram. 



hill (except the last corner-hill, one pole) as shown by the dots on 
the diagram where the dots represent the poles, and the lines the 
strings, the heavier part of the lines representing the bottom part 
of the strings. 

The outside pole, of this outside row, in each hill may be a 
lighter pole than the rest of the yard, as it only carries two vines 
and no string. Having set this outside row we return to the hill 
D, I hardly need to say that the poles are supposed to be 



82 



already " laid " in the yard. With two balls of twine, we lay the 
ends of the twine together, and tie with a firm knot around the 
pole for D, about fourteen feet from the " sharpening," so that the 
top of these strings will come five or six feet below the tip of the 
pole, and at a point where the pole should be about one and one- 
quarter inches thick, for strength. We then raise and set the pole 
D, carry one of the strings to pole A (already set), cut, and tie 
about five feet from the ground. Carry the other string to pole 
B (already set), cut and tie about five feet from the ground. 
Then pass on to pole " E" tying on two top strings as to the 
previous pole, raise and set pole E and carry one of the strings 
back to pole D, cut, and tie about five feet from the ground. 
Carry the other string to pole C, cut, and tie about five feet from 
the ground ; and so on through the row to the last hill where we 
carry the string which corresponds to the one from E to " C," to 
the corner hill of the outside row. Returning, we begin at the 
hill " F," and so on through the yard. 

Except the outside rows on two sides, each hill has now two 
strings, leading from a point on it, about five feet from the ground, 
each string to the top of a different pole. Two vines are trained 
up each of these strings, and two straight on up the pole to the 
top, making six vines to each hill throughout the yard. I have 
described the setting of this yard, more particularly, because 
there is only one way to do it, and one right place to begin. 

So in picking ; the best place to begin, other things being 
equal, is at the opposite or diagonal corner from where we began 
to set the poles. 

(6). V^^RE YARDS. 

All wire yards that I know of are based on pretty much the 
same plan. Stout posts like telegraph poles on the outside of the 
field, between which posts, the wires are stretched along over the 
rows, or in the middle between the rows, at a height of about 
twelve feet. Strings are then run, from short stakes in the hills, up 
over these wires. They generally cost about $ioo per acre ready 
for the vines, and give good satisfaction. They are all patented, so 
far as I know, and therefore, I must leave them to be described 
and pushed by their proprietors. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



CULTIVATION. 



IT is customary to plant corn or potatoes between the hop- 
hills the first year, sometimes one rov/ and sometimes two 

between the rows of hop-hills. The young vines are 

allowed to lie on the ground, as they produce no hops, but it 
will cost very little and I believe will pay, to set a small pole an 
inch or two thick and six or eight feet long " to show the vines 
what they have got to come to," as the English grower says, 
and I shall try it the coming season. 

In the fall, as soon as the corn or potatoes are off, comes a good 
time to spread on manure and plough and cultivate it in ; having 
first bunched the hop-vines by twining them around the stick 
used to mark the hill. 

(l). GRUBBING. 

Some set the poles before grubbing, others after. If a grower 
has a good many hops to look after, and is short of help, he can, 
in some seasons, get the poles set and out of the way before the 
ground is fit to grub. Otherwise, the usual way is to grub before 
setting the poles. 

I have treated of the poles first, because every good grower 
looks out for his poles and has them all sharpened and stacked 
near the ground, during the preceding winter or certainly before 
the ground opens in the spring. 

As soon as the frost is out and the ground fit to work, grubbing 
commences. Growers here use a "grub hook" with two stout 
steel prongs about an inch wide and flattened and sharpened at 
the points, and about eight inches long, with an inch space be- 
tween them at the points and coming together at the handle, 
which is about the length of an ordinary hoe handle and a good 
deal stouter. 

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84 

With these the dirt is pulled away from anund the " crown " in 
the hill, the " funners " (which are few the second year) and the 
dead vines trimmed off with a knife anid any grubs carefully 
looked for and killed. 

The hills are now in good shape for setting the poles, if not 
already set, for you can see just where the " crown " is, ou"- of 
which all the vines will start. 

The poles are then set ; the ground plowed ; any runners or 
" roots " saved for planting or sale ; and the dirt pulled up so as 
to cover the crown and lie even about the hill. It is now ready 
for the warm sun to start the vines out of the ground. 

(2). TYING. 

The hop vine climbs from right to left or round with the sun. 
Its top has a curious, revolving motion, and, if let alone, the 
chances are it will find the pole and begin to climb. Quite a 
number of shoots will start up in each hill, and from these, the best 
shoots must be selected and saved for the pole or poles, and as 
many as your system of poles requires to the hill, and one or two 
to spare, to provide for failure. 

If there is pole room enough for six vines to the hill (as in the 
case of yard No. 5, Fig. 8), the question is whether six vines to 
the hill will produce more weight of hops than four vines to the 
hill. I have taken the views of both sides, on this point, and am 
inclined in favor of six vines, where there is pole, or string, or both, 
sufficient to hold and ripen them. It is 7iahiral to the hop to 
throw up many vines. If you let them all grow you will not in- 
jure the root : as witness the vine in the corner of the garden, 
which grows, untouched, so many years longer than the cultivated 
ones. If you cut a hill down to one vine, you injure the root, and 
if you allow no vines to grow you kill the root. The danger to 
the root, therefore, is in the direction of too few vines, instead of 
too many, and this leaves us free to use as many vines as will not 
get in each other's way, above the ground, and when loaded with 
hops. 

The best vines for the poles are not the slender, ' wiry " shoots 
(blue ), even though they may be more forward and taller ; but 
the stout, " thick-set," " stubbed " ones of the brightest green. 



85 

By the time the tallest are two or tnree feet high, you will have 
a good number to select from and begin tying. 

To break down those you do not want is better than to pull 
them up, as there is less injury to the root. 

Eighteen inches to two feet above the ground is low enough for 
the first tying, and follow up the pole from tmie to time as needed, 
to near the top. The last tyings have to be done with a step- 
ladder, with a swing brace to support it; but some of our growers 
have steady and trained horses, from whose backs they can tie 
with much more speed and less labor. The first of the tying is 
done largely by women. The material for the strings, used in 
tying, is rushes, yarn, or, what is most preferred, burlaps, cut about 
a foot square, hung in front of the tyer, and each string unravel- 
led as needed. The string is passed around the pole so as just to 
hold the vine without pinching it, and not tied, but twisted between 
the thumb and finger till it will hold. In "string" yards the 
vines are tied only to the poles or stakes but are twisted round 
the strings a little at the start and replaced on the string again 
with a shorter twist, when too loose or when blown ofif by the 
wind. 

Before the end of the tying, the surplus shoots will have ceased 
to sprout from the root, and they can be twisted together without 
pulling them up and buried on the hill, under a shovelful or two 
of earth, to kill them. 

(3). CULTIVATION AMONG THE HILLS OF THE GROWING CROP. 

All the heavy manures, intended for the yard, have been carted 
on in the fall, after picking, and in the spring before the poles are 
set. The moment the ground is fit to work, among the poles, the 
best growers put in the plow and " cultivator," and keep them 
in the field till the hops are " in the burr." 

Most of the large growers have several yards, and by the time 
the last one is plowed or "cultivated," the first one is ready for 
it again. 

After the first plowing, (sometimes one way between the rows 
and the cultivator the other way, and sometimes the plow both 
ways, according to the stiffness of the ground), the " cultivator" 



86 

is now the chief implement. The best are now made of iron ex- 
cept the handles, and have the " duck foot " tooth, which works 
like a subsoil plow, below the surface while the sharp shank con- 
necting the " duck foot" to the frame, cuts through the roots of 
grass, or quack very easily, and it does. good work with very 
little wear on the team. Most of the large yards are, as I have 
said, laid out seven by eight, so that two horses can be used and 
a two-horse cultivator. To the rear teeth of the cultivator, a hiller 
can be attached, turning the soil up to the hills, when that is de- 
sired. Some of the best growers " hill-up " around the poles at 
the last of the plowing season, and others prefer to leave the 
whole yard nearly level. I should judge that the level yards 
would stand drought best, and in New York State, the sure fore- 
runner of a light crop of hops is a drouth in July or August. 
This is the great object of this constant stirring up the soil with 
the cultivator ; to get the ground fine and light so it will absorb 
the dews and light rains, which are about all the moisture our 
hops can expect, through July and August, just when the hop is 
fruiting and needs all the ^help it can get. It is to meet this 
sudden demand on the soil for the rich material needed for the 
manufacture of all these hops, that about the middle of July the 
roots send out thousands of fibres, almost like a web, all through 
the ground a little below the surface. 

It is to spare these fibrous roots that the cultivator is stopped 
whe;i the hop appears in the burr, though some keep up the cul- 
tivation much later. But if, by the cultivator, between the rows, 
and the hoe around the hills^ the weeds have been completely 
kept out till then, they will do little damage afterwards ; for the 
hop roots have now possession cf every inch below the surface, 
and the surface is shaded by the vines. 

Before the cultivator is run through for the last time, some of 
the best growers put on two, three, or four hundred pounds to the 
acre, of super-phosphate or some quick fertilizer, and it seems to 
make but litde difference whether it is put around the hill or 
scattered broadcast. The roots are everywhere, and the feeding 
or fibrous roots are full as numerous away from the hill as in it. 
There are no weed seeds in this sort of manure, and it gives the 
vines something to make hops out of, just when they get to work 



87 

at this important job. This stimulant, sometimes P>-e<:eded ^y 
another of about the same quantity, sprinkled round the hi'ljust 
before it is covered in, after grubbing, to give the vmes a start 
in the spring, covers the practice of the principal growers. 





CHAPTER XIX. 

PICKING. 

WO engag-e the pickers for the coming harvest is the first 
thing to be looked after. Around Waterville, every 
man, woman and child that can be had, is secured long 
beforehand. We divide the pickers into two classes : ** Home" 
and '* Foreign" pickers. The "Home" pickers "board" them- 
selves, but the grower goes around to their homes every morning 
and brings them to the yard in large wagons, and takes them home 
at night ; some growers furnishing them a dinner at noon, while in 
other instances, they bring their own lunch. I mention this because 
it accounts in great measure for the various prices paid, per box, for 
picking. The *' Foreign" pickers are those who are brought in 
from distant villages and cities, and lodged and fed by the grower 
himself — " Their name is legion." It now keeps more than 
50,000 persons busy for three weeks, in gathering the hop crop of 
New York State. The "Foreign" pickers, for the last crop, (that 
of 1882) received from thirty-five to forty cents per box (of about 
eight bushels) besides their "living." The " Home" pickers re- 
ceived from fifty to fifty -five cents and their dinner, or from fifty- 
five to sixty cents, besides being carried to and from their homes, 
they providing their own dinner. 

As a box will generally make about twelve pounds of dried 
hops, it will be seen that the picking alone (not including box 
"tenders," teams and teamsters for carting the hops, and drying 
and baling, costs five cents per pound. 

A fair day's work, for an experienced woman picker, is three 
boxes. 

I. Boxes. Mr. Morris Terry, of Waterville, was the first who 
divided the old-fashioned, big box into four compartments, and 
each of these compartments is what we now mean by a "box" 
when we are speaking of prices and picking. On the following 
page is shown one of our modern boxes, with attachment for 
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89 

leaning the poles upon, and also for an awning or shelter from 
the sun for the women and girls, as they stand all day long at the 
boxes. Any grower who looks well to his own interest will pro- 
vide these shelters, for it is to his advantage to have his hops 
picked as fast and as well as possible, and any woman or girl, or 
man even, will pick faster and better when protected from the hot, 
midday sun of late August and early September, in New York 
State. 




Fig. 9. Hop Box, New York Standard, with Awning. 

Each of the compartments shown in the figure is what we call a 
'' box." The prevailing size of these compartments, about here, 
is (inside measurement) thirty- six inches long, eighteen inches 
wide, and twenty-six inches deep. This gives 16.848 cubic inches 
capacity, which divided by 2,150 cubic inches to the bushel, 
gives about seven and six-sevenths bushels. But as the hops pack 
down a. little while being picked into the box, it is fair to call it 
eight bushels, as is the custom. Through the holes represented 
m the uprights a light pole is thrust, so that its ends will project 
about two feet outside each upright, and on these projecting ends 
the poles, loaded with hops, are leaned convenient to the pickers. 
The boxes are usually made of planed, pine boards, and if under 



90 

cover when not in use will last many years. There are various 
methods of supporting the awning — one of them, at least, a patent 
and a good one, but as the use of the awning is now becoming 
universal, I will describe a cheap and easy method of construc- 
tion which any grower can carry out for himself: Let the uprights, 
at the end of the box, be of inch board, eight inches wide and six 
feet high, from bottom of box. For the cover of the awning, take 
two pieces of hop-sacking, each six feet, ten inches long, and sew 
them together at the edge ; cut two strips of inch board four 
inches wide and as long as the longest way of your cover, which 
will be across the seam. Place one of these strips of board across 
and outside each upright of the box, so that the top edge of the 
strip is " flush" or level with the top of the upright, and an equal 
length of each strip on each side of the upright. Bore two half- 
inch holes, three inches apart, through strip and upright, and 
fasten the strips to the uprights by hard-wood pegs, made a good 
fit in the holes, and outside, made large and long enough to pull 
out easily. Stretch the cover over these strips, the seam length- 
wise of the box and over the centre, and tack the cover down on 
the outside of the strips so as to stretch it tight and make a fit. 
Then, by pulling out the pegs, you can take the awning off while 
you move the box, or by taking out one peg from each upright, 
the awning can be tipped down at one side and will go between 
the rows of poles when you move the box. If the cover, in time, 
is inclined to sag, a brace can be put across under the seam be- 
tween the uprights, or a slight support be set up from near the 
centre of the box. 

2. Hop Sacks. These are made to hold one box or eight 
bushels, with room for tying, are cylinder-shaped and are about 
four feet long and two feet in diameter. They are made of sack- 
ing, the same as for bales, or of still lighter burlaps, or of un- 
bleached sheeting. I prefer the hop-sacking or burlaps as more 
porous, and the green hops are not quite so apt to sweat in the 
sacks, if there is any delay in the drying. 

3. Time for the Picking. About Waterville, we find, the 
Palmer Seedlings are usually ready for picking, about the 15th of 
August. The Humphrey Seedlings commence about the 226. 
of August. The English Cluster or "main crop," about the last 
Monday in August. 



91 

This is a little early, all round, for the hops to be ripe, but the 
picking lasts three weeks, and a hop picked a little too green and 
not very rich, but bright and clean, finds a better sale than one 
which is ever so rich, but discolored by standing too long. I 
think this early picking injures the roots, not so much by the 
"bleeding" of the vine, but because it is against nature to cut off 
the vine and suddenly stop the action of the roots when they are 
in the full exercise of their proper functions — filling the hop with 
the rich "lupuline," — the yellow gold dust — which makes the hop 
valuable to the brewer. This sudden " cut off," when the roots 
are in full blast, leaves fibrous ones to die and rot at once ; the 
whole root receives an unnatural shock, and the result is that it 
enters the winter less tough, and comes out in the spring less vig- 
orous, than if it had been allowed to do its natural work. 

But the brewers are " the doctors " in this matter, and not the 
growers. The brewers buy the hops and the goods must be 
made to suit the buyer. 

If most of the brewers prefer "color" to richness, and get a 
greener, leaner, lighter hop, and we have lighter crops, year by 
year, to the acre and higher prices in consequences, it is the look- 
out of the buyers and not of the sellers. But the lucky grower is 
he who has three good varieties of hops (such as I have already 
referred to under the head of " Roots and their varieties here," 
Chapter XV, Section 2 ), so that he can pick his first hops fairly 
ripe and heavy, and his last will stand well against rust or mould 
till he reaches them. The appearance of a hop, when it is fit to 
pick, cannot be exactly described. It is known only by practice. 
But in general we may say they should have a good supply of 
yellow lupuline around the seeds, the seeds should be hard and 
brown, or black when dried, the small leaves at the " tip" drawn 
together, a slight shade of brown on some of the outer leaves ; the 
hops should slightly rustle when shaken together on the poles, 
and when crushed between the fingers, should have an agreeable 
"ripe "smell instead of the "grass" smell they have when too 
green. 

4. Setting the boxes. This is done a day or two before the 
pickers are brought on. Commencing at the ripest part of the 
field, or where there is most danger from lice or rust, each box is 



92 

set four rows deep into the field, and with four rows on each side 
of it so as to bring it in the centre of sixty-four hills. 

The next box takes its eight rows to the right or left, and so, as 
the picking goes on, the boxes move forward into the field, each 
with its own eight rows wide and taking eight rows deep to each 
set of the boxes. 

5. Managing the picking. If the hops are heavy and the 
progress through the yard slow, one stout man, called here a 
*' pole-puller " is assigned to each two boxes or eight pickers. 
His business is to cut the vines about three feet above the ground, 
pull up the poles as fast as they are required by the pickers, and 
no faster, or they will wilt and disgust the pickers ; and lean the 
loaded poles against the cross pole of the box very gently or he 
will "jar " down the hops already picked in the boxes and have 
four women in his hair at once. He has also to clear the vines 
off the poles when cleaned of hops, pile or stack the poles, keep 
the vines and twigs and arms away from the pickers' feet, pile the 
vines in heaps, and "change" works with another pole puller in 
setting the boxes when a new "set" of hills is required. He 
sometimes has an implement called a " dog," arranged on the 
principle of a pair of ice tongs and attached to a strap over his 
shoulder, so that by applying the dog to the pole he gets a good 
hold and a good " purchase " for pulling up the pole. With all 
this to attend to, the pole puller is not likely to go to sleep, and if 
the hops are light he cannot tend two boxes. He gets now about 
$1.50, $1.75, or $2.00 per day, according to his ability, and he 
boards himself To about every fifty pickers there must also be 
a " sacker " or "box emptier," who in response to the cry of — 
" Hop-sack ! " from any direction must be ready to pull the hops 
out of the full box into the sack, and give the picker a "ticket" 
good for the pay for picking one box of hops. These tickets are 
usually colored pieces of pasteboard with " one box," and the 
grower's name printed on them, and exchangeable for others of 
larger denominations when they get too numerous. Some are 
also made of tin, stamped with initials, etc. With teams and men 
to cart the hops to the kiln, and with the grower himself in the 
field to see that there is no " fooling " and that the hops are picked 
carefully and clean, the organization is complete and will go on 
smooth, with good weather, through the picking. 




CHAPTER XX. 

Drying. 

'S soon as we reach the hop kiln, we have left the proper 
field and occupation of farming, and have gone into 
manufacturing. In New York State, every hop kiln is 
not only a drying-house, but it is also a bleachery ; a 
preserving and curing-house, and a packing-house, all in one. 

There are hundreds of good farmers who can raise hops excel- 
lently well, where there is one who can dry them well. In 
Germany there are thousands of small hop growers who sub- 
stantially dry their hops in the sun, and then hand them over to 
dryers and dealers in the towns who make a business of preparing 
and putting them on the market. But these hops can never com- 
pete in color with those bleached at once on the kiln, and with 
our American brewers, the standard of color is so high that 
practically no man can raise hops to advantage in the United 
States, who is not able both to own and manage a hop kiln. 

This fact keeps many out of the business, and causes the failure 
of many who go into it. This tends all the time to keep the 
business of hop growing in comparatively few hands, but at the 
same time it has created a class of skilled and experienced men in 
the great hop-growing regions, who have brought up the quality 
and standing of American hops in the market of the world, so 
that one year ago in London, for the first time, the quotations for 
Americans, stood side by side with those of choice Kent and Bava- 
rian hops. A few years ago American hops were bought in 
England, only as a last resort, only when they were cheap, and 
were used only for the cheap grades of beer. But our hops, as 
they leave the poles now, are no better than they were twenty 
years ago ; in fact not so good. The improvement has been 
made in the drying, and in that alone. 

It would be interesting and profitable to trace the history of 
this improvement, the methods of curing, which have been tried 

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94 

and found deficient, some in one respect and some in another, but 
there is not room in this volume. 

We must cqnfine ourselves to what is now considered by our 
experienced growers, to be the best general method of curing 
hops, now in use, in the State of New York. 

(l). THE HOP KILN. 

Referring to Fig. lo, we have the following measurements : 

Each hop kiln, eighteen by eighteen feet, outside measurement, 
and seventeen by seventeen feet, inside measurement, that is, size 
of kiln cloth. Fuel room for coal or wood (between two kilns), 
eighteen by eighteen feet, with roof as represented, to receive 
the sacks of hops from the field, the sacks to be taken from this 
roof on to the kiln cloth through doors as shown in right hand 
kiln. Store-room for dried hops, as shown, fifty-four feet long by 
twenty-four feet wide, with two floors. The sill of the ground 
floor, two feet lower than the level of the sill of the kilns ; and the 
second floor two feet lower than thi- level of the kiln cloth. 

The posts of this hop store-house are eighteen feet. First floor 
room, twelve feet high ; second floor room, six feet high to " plate." 
The outside of the store-house is simply a shell of matched boards, 
with board windows or Winds, sufficient to admit air occasionally 
and to admit no more light than is needed to see to work while 
handling the hops and baling. The kilns are usually commenced 
with a stone or brick foundation wall, about four feet high, above 
the ground, with at least four draft holes in this wall, say two on 
each weather side, and the nearer the ground the better, each hole 
about three and one-half, by two feet, for plenty of air, and with 
swing doors to shut off draft when required. 

Posts of kilns sixteen feet ; from bottom of sill to kiln cloth, 
twelve feet ; from kiln cloth to " plate," four feet ; perpendicular 
height of roof, eighteen feet above plate ; perpendicular height of 
cowl, eight feet ; hole three feet square to be left for cowl ; cowl 
stands leaning as shown, to keep out rain, and has board wind- 
vane to turn the cowl, with opening always away from the wind. 

With us, at Waterville, cowls are bought '' ready-made " at a 
factory. 



95 

The stove is best set with the fire-grate at least as high as the 
top of the draft holes in the wall. The stove-pipe leads from the 
stove into a " tee," and thence each way, as shown, so as to form 
a square around the inside of the kiln, about three feet from the 
wall, with a gradual rise from the " tee," of about a foot to where 
the pipe enters the chimney, five feet below the kiln cloth ; ten- 
inch pipe is the common size. The kiln, inside, has a tight roof, 
is " ceiled " from kiln cloth to plate with boarding, and is lathed 
and plastered in stove-room, so as to be perfectly tight from 
ground sill to cowl, when the doors and windows are closed. The 
cowl lets in light enough for the kiln-cloth floor ; and the stove- 
room is sufficiently lighted by a single glass window. A pane or 
two of glass is sometimes let into the store-room side of the stove- 
room, so that the night dryer, from a cot in the store-room, can 
by a lantern hung inside, see the thermometer in the stove-room, 
and watch the heat, without entering the kiln too often, to do so. 

The stove-room is entered from the coal-room, and the coal- 
room is entered as shown ; and also communicates with the hop 
store-house. Until recently the stove-room has been built open 
from the ground to the kiln cloth ; but now some kilns have a 
planed and matched board floor on the sill level or below it, and 
the air is admitted from beneath the floor, only under and around 
the stove, the floor allowing what hop dust sifts down through the 
kiln cloth, to be swept up and saved. The stove and pipe should 
be protected from this dust by suspended sheets o{ tin, or by 
boards, or else the dust falHng on the surface, may give to the 
next kiln a scorched odor to the hops, unless carefully brushed 
ofl". 

Hop stoves are made in Waterville, especially for the purpose, 
and cost about $40. The kiln-cloth floor is made of slats, laid on 
cross pieces, sixteen inches apart, to support the weight of the 
hops and dryer. The slats are made from inch lumber planed on 
both sides, leaving it about seven-eighths of an inch thick. They 
are cut inch and a quarter, and set on edge, leaving three-fourths 
or seven-eighths of an inch, between. The kiln cloth is hard 
twisted and fine meshed, like what is known as "strainer" cloth. 

The two kilns and store-house described, will cost altogether 
from Ji,500 to $2,000, according to cost of materials and labor. 



96 

Of course, if a grower needs but one kiln, he can follow practically 
the same plan by omitting one kiln, and about one-half the length 
of the store-house. A single kiln of the size described, will dry, 
when well managed, a flooring of fifty boxes of hops in twelve 
hours, making about 600 pounds of dried hops. Thus two floor- 
ings, during each twenty-four hours, (a good dryer, with some 
assistance, wdll dry, night and day), will give us 1200 pounds of 
dried hops per day, or 20,oco pounds (over 100 bales), during a 
three weeks' season of picking. But this 13 the vios^ than can be 
done when everything favors, and if a crop is expected to be over 
15,000 pounds, it is best to provide two kilns as shown in Fig. 9, 
to be prepared for accidents and delays ; for the sooner the hops 
are dried, after they are picked, the better sample they will make, 
and forty boxes is better than flfty for a kiln of this size. 

(2). THE DRYING PROCESS. 

A fire is built in the stove, and the dampness taken out of the 
kiln, by several hours' heat, before the first flooring of hops is put 
on. The hops are then dumped from the hop-sacks on to the kiln 
cloth to a depth of one to two feet, according to the number of 
boxes. Great care is to be taken to have the hops lay light and 
even on the kiln, so as to avoid thin or open spots through which 
the air escapes too fast, and thus wastes the heat, or thick and 
hard spots which result in lumps of slack-dried hops, in a kiln 
of hops otherwise sufficiently cured. 

The heat from the stove is kept low at first, the thermometer 
registering about 120 degrees, Fahrenheit, and gradually raised to 
125 and 130 degrees, during the main time of drying. Some 
bring it to 140 degrees toward the last, (and some even higher, 
though rarely above 150 among the best growers). The ther- 
mometer usually is hung near the store-house side of the kiln, on 
a level with, or a little above the level of the stove-pipe. 

Before applying sulphur, some prefer to wait till the hops are 
well warmed and steaming ; but most apply the first batch of 
sulphur at the same time as the heat, and while the hops are still 
cold. The hop stoves have a flange, making a receptacle for the 
sulphur on the top of the stove; but the heat of the stove is apt 



97 

to burn the sulphur too fast. This is avoided by using any old 
pan placed near the stove, and igniting the sulphur with a few- 
coals from the stove or a red hot spike thrust in under the pieces 
or rolls of sulphur. Some also close the air drafts in the side of 
the kiln, for a few minutes, while the first sulphur is burning so as 
to economize the fumes ; but the ruling custom is, to burn it as 
slowly as possible, and carry It along with the drying, so as to have 
at least a few minutes of sulphur on the hops after they are turned. 
At the expiration of eight or ten hours, when the hops are done 
steaming and are all partially dried, it will still be found that the 
bottom hops are a great deal dryer than those at the top. The 
flooring of hops is then turned bottom up, with large, light, wooden 
" scoop " shovels or forks, made for the purpose. A small 
reserve of sulphur is then burned by some, and the drying goes 
on till the hops are done to suit the dryer. The point of proper 
dryness can only be determined by practice. The leading test is 
by the brittleness of the stem of the hop flower or cone. But 
only an experienced hop dryer can determine the exact point, 
and all attempts to describe will be apt to mislead. Those who 
have no reliable man as a dryer, can only keep on the safer side 
by making sure the hops are dry enough ; for, if not dry enough, 
they will spoil, but if too dry ihey will absorb some moisture be- 
fore baling, and get back again into fair condition for baling, if 
handled carefully. The hops, when dry, are shoved ofl" the kiln 
though the door into the store-room to cool on the second, or 
" cooling " floor. 

The process described, is that where it is required to dry two 
floorings of hops within twenty-four hours, to keep ahead of the 
pickers. Where the dryer has twenty-four hours for a kiln of 
hops, or all the time he wishes, he will dry slower, at a lower 
heat, and some will " bunch " the hops in a pile, toward the last, 
to get an even dryness, or sometimes he will allow the hops to 
cool on the kiln so that they will break up less than if handled 
while hot. If, however, the hops are not very clean picked, then 
handling, while hot, will break up the now very brittle vine leaves 
so that they show less in the sample, than when allowed to 
toughen by cooling, and remain whole. So the dryer has to use 
his judgment whether it is best or not to break up a few hops and 
7 



a good many vine leaves, by stirring while hot, or to let all cool 
and toughen together. 

In regard to the quantity of sulphur to be used, or the best man- 
ner of using it, it is difficult to find any fixed standard or usage. 
Even the best growers differ in opinion and practice. One kiln 
of green-picked, or discolored, or mouldy, or "redded" hops, 
will require double the sulphur to bleach it, that another one will 
which is of well- ripened hops and not mouldy, or rusty and " red- 
ded " on the vines. In general, however, after comparing the ex- 
perience of many growers, I think we may put down fifteen 
pounds of sulphur to a fifty-box kiln, or one pound of sulphur 
to i6o pounds, green, or forty pounds of dried hops, as the ordi- 
nary usage of our best growers. I reserve some discussion of 
disputed points in drying, and especially of the use of sulphur, to 
a point a little later on, under the head of " Observations on dry- 
ing." 

(3). AFTER DRYING AND BEFORE BALING. 

The desirabihty of so large a store-house for the hops when 
dried, and not yet baled, lies in the fact that a grower cannot bale 
as fast as he dries, without getting the early-picked hops in the 
first bales, and the late-picked in the last, so that no single sample 
can fairly represent his growth. But as some large growers sell 
their hops in different lots, so they also commence bahng before 
the drying is very far advanced ; sometimes reserving a few of 
the early kilns to mix with the late, and then going on to bale the 
rest, allowing each kiln three or four days to cool and toughen. 

But the general plan of the large store-house and its two floors, 
is to enable the dryer to shove the hops off the kiln on to the top 
floor, and there let them cool thoroughly, and then shove them 
to the rear of the room where they fall through trap doors, in a 
heap or bin on the ground floor. Thus one kiln of hops falls on 
the one before it, forming layers, horizontally. 

Then by commencing at one end of the pile or bin, and taking 
the hops off in perpendicular sections and bringing them to the 
press, in baskets, the early and late pickings are thoroughly and 
evenly mixed together, and a sample taken from any bale will 
represent one " straight " growth. 



99 

(4). OBSERVATIONS ON DRYING. 

It is a chemical process from the start. In every pound of 
green hops we have three-fourths of a pound of water, which must 
be expelled by the chemical process of distillation or evaporation 
by artificial heat. We have also a dull, green color which we are 
required to change to a bright yellow by the chemical process of 
bleaching. We must so regulate our drying and bleaching as not 
to cause chemical decomposition and loss of the valuable lupuHne 
or "flour" of the hop, and we must not leave the hops so dry 
as to crumble all to pieces in baling ; and at the same time we 
must have them dry enough to avoid fermentation or " heating " 
in the bale, or their sale is spoiled. We must therefore carefully 
apply to our task the natural laws which are within our reach. 
These are — 

1 (a). Air, when heated, expands and becomes lighter, and 
therefore rises above the cold air surrounding it. 

(d). The hotter it is, the lighter it is, and the faster it will rise. 

2 (a). Air, when heated, will absorb and hold more moisture 
than when cold. 

(d). Its capacity for moisture is doubled with every increase of 
heat amounting to twenty degrees, Fahrenheit. 

We take advantage of both these two laws and their effects 
when we build a fire beneath our hops. The heated air rises from 
the hot surface of the stove and pipe, and starts toward the top of 
the kiln. Passing into the hops, it absorbs all it can catch and 
hold of their moisture, and goes on up toward the top of the kiln, 
followed and pushed along by more hot air constantly rising, and 
thus forming a current or " draft" of hot air; that part of the 
current above the hops being hot and wet, and that below the 
hops hot and dry ; and the whole column being lifted by the ex- 
pansive power of the heat, followed by the pressure of the cold 
air from beneath, hastening through the lower draft holes to fill 
the gap. Now, with a given and fixed heat from the stove and 
pipe, the narrower and taller (within practical limits) our kiln is, 
the stronger and faster will be the current of air, and the better 
will be our draft, and the faster will bz our drying of a certain 
fixed depth of hops. The narrower the kiln the better the draft, 



lOO 



because the column of air in a tall kiln has time to gather momen- 
tum and force, in an upward direction. But to build up an 
eighteen by eighteen feet kiln, fifty or seventy-five feet high, like 
a factory chimney, would be expensive and impracticable. 

We, therefore, practically accomplish the same purpose by nar- 
rowing the roof in at the top so that the column of hot air is con- 
centrated at the cowl, just as a four-inch, fire-engine hose is con- 
tracted to an inch nozzle, that it may "squirt" the water much 
farther than it would reach without the nozzle. Thus the con- 
verging roof and small cowl opening, concentrate the force of the 
uprising column of hot air, and give it such impetus as carries it 
clear of the building and out of the way, and at the same time 
offers less chance for cold air outside at the top, to overbear it and 
come in at the top, and cause a " smudge " or " sweat " of the 
hops, by cooling off the hot air, and causing it to drop its moisture 
like a dew. Losing sight of the concentrating effect of this small 
cowl opening, many an enterprising grower has attempted to im- 
prove the draft of his kiln by enlarging the cowl, and has found 
himself worse off instead of better. Others, when the shape of the 
roof would admit, have put on two cowls to one kiln, thus splitting 
the stream of air and actually injuring the draft. Others, again, 
have put up a kiln with a kiln cloth, twenty-four by twenty-four 
feet, (which is just twice the size of seventeen by seventeen), with 
an enlarged cowl and two stoves. This again was not a success, 
because the converging roof was not made high in proportion, 
and was too fiat ; so that the column of uprising air was too blunt 
at the top to allow it to pass easily out of the cowl. Others, 
again, have let in cold air under the kiln cloth from windows or 
draft holes as high as the top of the stove, thus shortening and 
baffling the upward current of hot air. All these attempts to im- 
prove upon the kiln selected as a model (and given in Fig. lo), 
have been failures, because the proportions of that kiln are the re- 
sult of hundreds of trials, till little by little the practically true 
proportions have been found and retained. The kiln is not right 
because it is the standard, but it has become the standard because 
it is in accordance with the natural laws of heat, and its effects, 
which I have mentioned. 

Referring now to the facts that heated air will hold more 



lOI 



moisture than cold air ; that the hotter it is the faster it will rise ; 
and that its capacity for absorbing moisture, is doubled by every 
twenty degrees, Fahrenheit, increase of heat ; we see that when 
we raise our heat from 120 degrees, to a heat of 140 degrees, we 
have more than doubled our speed of drying, for we have also in- 
creased our draft. How great, then, is the temptation to rush on 
the heat and dry the hops too fast ! 

For it must not be forgotten, that " haste makes waste." All 
chemical processes reqiiire a certain ajnotmt of time ; and if you 
crowd the time, you injure the product. By the use of hot liquor, 
our tanners now tan a hide sometimes in three weeks. In old 
times they used to take a year. Does the rotten, heat-killed 
leather now-a-days wear like the old-fashioned slow tanned ? It 
is precisely so with hurrying up the drying of hops. Twelve 
hours is Httle enough time in which to bring about so great a 
change. A low heat of 120 degrees, and eighteen to twenty-four 
hours' time would give us better hops. 

The " Fan Blast," which uses a low heat, and makes up for it 
by increasing the current of air, by forcing it, already warmed, into 
the bottom of the kiln, is fully described in the main part of this 
work, (page 55), by Mr. Meeker, who uses it in drying his im- 
mense crop. It deserves the careful attention of our large 
growers in New York State. 

THE USE OF SULPHUR IN DRYING. 

Sulphur has three effects on the hops in the kiln : First. To 
bleach ; Second. To dry ; Third. To prevent fermentation or 
** heat," in the bale. As a bleaching agent, the effect of the 
sulphur IS greatest at the beginning of the drying, and fiiest near 
the end of the drying. If we wished simply to take the green 
color out of the hops and make them pale, then all the sulphur 
could be used at first, so far as the bleach is concerned. But we 
wish to leave the hops of a bright and permanent yellow, and to 
do this the sulphur should follow the hops all through the process; 
but practically it is fairly accomplished, and more conveniently 
by sulphuring at the beginning, up to the middle, and again near 
the end, that is when the hops are turned. Quite at the end 



I02 

would be all right, except that it is well to let the hot air pass 
through the hops for some little time after the last batch of sul- 
phur, in order to carry off the fumes of sulphur still entangled in 
the hops. 

As a dryer, sulphur performs a most important part, though it 
is not generally appreciated by the grower. The sulphurous-acid 
fumes have a very strong affinity or fondness for water or 
moisture, and the sulphurous cloud as it passes up among the 
hops, is like a great sponge, taking up the moisture of the hops, 
and as it works itself into every part of the hop, it departs loaded 
with moisture. It is thus that the middle, and especially the last 
batch of sulphur does good work in penetrating and drying the 
inside of the hops, that has been more out of the reach of the air 
current. 

As a prevention of " heat " or fermentation in the bale, sulphur 
is very valuable ; and indeed in these days of early-picked and 
unripe hops, dried, when full of green sap, sulphur is almost indis- 
pensable. 

Every grower knows how quick the hops commence to " heat " 
in the hop-sack, and this "heat" is a fermentation to which the 
sap of the hop is peculiarly liable. Sulphur is the enemy of fer- 
mentation, and the sulphur used in drying hops, not only helps to 
remove a good deal of the sap altogether out of the hop, but it also 
renders what is left, less liable to ferment in the bale, and there is 
less danger of" heated " bales. 

This very fact, that sulphur is death to fermentation, consti- 
tutes the great objection to the use of such extravagant quantities 
of sulphur as will injure the fermentation of the beer in which hops^ 
drenched with sulphur, are used. But the ordinary practice of 
fifteen pounds or even twenty pounds, (though the average use is 
much less than that), has not been observed to injure the fermen- 
tation of the beer. What the brewer most objects to, is the sul- 
phuring of old hops, by hop speculators, so as to make them look 
like new. Prof. Thausing, of Germany, in his great work on The 
Fabrication of Beer, which is edited and endorsed by A. Schwarz 
and Dr. A. H. Bauer, of New York, making it the latest and 
highest authority on Beer, says : 

" Hops, discolored by too long storing, faulty drying, or some 



I03 

"other injurious influences, receive, again, a beautiful, light color 
"by smoking with sulphur, thus destroying an important sign 
" which marks the hops as being of little value. The brewer has 
"good cause for being on his guard if the smoking with sulphur 
" is done for this purpose, but not so when fresh, young hops are 
"so smoked, for in that case it is a decided advantage. * * * It 
" would, therefore, seem advisable from what has been said, to be 
" doubly cautious with hops smoked with sulphur, and to exam- 
"ine them with the greatest care, so as to determine whether the 
" smoking was done for a good purpose or whether it only serves 
"to conceal certain faults. In the United States the hops are 
" already smoked by the grower. All American hops are smoked 
" with sulphur, and this process has had no disturbing influence 
" upon the excellence of the article." 

It seems, then, that it is not the use, but the abuse of sulphur^ 
that the brewer complains of; and besides I have good reason to 
believe that in drying our hops, the moderate or standard amount 
of fifteen pounds to a kiln, when well managed, will do as much 
good as more sulphur, and the extra quantity is simply wasted, 
or worse. 



-•<:>^>$«Mil»$<^<=>--- 



CHAPTER XXI. 



BALING. 




^HE press used, almost universally, in New York State, and 
indeed I may say in the United States, is the Harris press. 
It was invented by Lewis W. Harris, of Waterville, N.Y., 
about twenty-five years ago, and it remains the same press to-day 
in its main features, thoug^h Mr. B. A. Beardsley, who now manu- 
factures these presses in Waterville, (and presents our readers with 
cuts and description of his presses, on page 36), has added some 
valuable improvements in strength, and in speed of working. 
The McCabe press, also made by Mr. Beardsley, has a " follower" 
by which the hops are repeatedly pressed down, with little break- 
age of the hops, instead of being trodden down by a workman's 
feet, as in the Harris press. However, the Harris press is the 
simplest and cheapest, and is perfecdy satisfactory to our largest 
and best growers. 

The press turns out a rectangular bale, 4^ by 2^ by i^ feet, 
in length, breadth, and thickness, very neat in appearance and 
convenient to handle. I cannot but feel a litde proud of our bales 
as specimens of American workmanship, when compared with 
the bungling bags of English "pockets," and the heavy, clumsy 
cylinders weighing 300 to 400 pounds, put up in Germany, 
Their hops may be excellent in quality, but I cannot see that 
they are any better. for being put up in bad shape ; by which, I 
mean, a shape which makes it harder work to bale them in the 
first place and harder work to handle them afterwards. 

In baling hops in America, we lay a breadth of hop-sacking 
(which is woven forty-four inches wide), cut about four feet, nine 
inches, to two yards long, lengthwise, along the level " bed-piece " 
or bottom of the press, taking care to have the centre of this 
breadth come in the centre of the bed-piece, both ways, and the 
sides of the sacking parallel with the sides of the bed-piece. The 
press is provided with side and end boards, and these are now set 
up, and the hops filled in from baskets and tramped down firmly 

(104) 



I05 

with the feet (not stamped down, which breaks the hops, but 
pressed down with all the weight thrown on one foot) with a 
special care being taken to fill out the corners firmly and squarely, 
and more hops filled in continually till there should be from 175 
to 200 pounds of hops in the press, according to the weight and 
compactness of the hops. 180 pounds is the natural weight 
of a bale of this American size, that is, the hops being of average 
richness and solidity, 180 pounds of them, compressed into this 
size, will not press them so hard as to crush the hops and lupuline 
into a mass, as in the case of hard-pressed bales of over 200 
pounds, nor leave them loose and baggy, as in bales of less than 
170 pounds. In fact a thousand bales of New York State hops, 
taken as they come, will be found to average, almost exactly 180 
pounds to the bale. 

Having sufficient hops in the press, a piece of sacking exactly 
corresponding to the bottom piece in size, and position over it, is 
now put on the top of the hops, and the " follower " of the press 
worked down by the levers till the bale is brought down to a 
point a little less than two and one-half feet from the bottom, so 
that when the sides and ends of the press are all removed, which 
may now be done, the " selvage " edges of the top and bottom 
pieces of sacking will meet along the middle of the sides of the 
bale, horizontally, and be held in place by " scratch-awls," tempor- 
arily. These side seams are now sewed up with a sail needle and 
strong twine. The sacking which projects over the ends, is 
turned under and lapped, so to make square corners and is con- 
fined at each end with four or more small wooden pins, driven 
through the end sacking into the now compact hops of the bale. 
The pressure on the top is now relieved, and the elasticity of the 
hops stretches the cloth, so that the bale will easily be two and 
one-half feet wide. The bale is then taken from the press, and 
the ends capped or covered neatly with pieces of sacking cut to 
fit, and sewed to the turned-under edges of the main strips, and 
covering their lapped ends. 

The regulation sacking is " Dundee " bagging, forty-four 
inches wide, and weighing one and one-half pounds to the yard, 
in length. Five yards in length of this forty-four inches, one and 
one-half-pound sacking is quite commonly allowed for a bale, but 



io5 

the fact Is, a bale can be put up with four and one-third yards; 
though it is a rather inconveniently small pattern. But four and 
one-half linear yards, weighing six and three-quarter pounds, are 
amply sufficient, making with one-quarter pound of pins, a tare 
of seven pounds to the bale. Moreover, as I have ventured to 
boast a little of our American bales, I must here acknowledge a 
defect, of which we ought to be ashamed, and which should be 
removed from our bales at once — and that is, the pins. There is 
no wood driven into the English and German bales. They do 
not need them, to be sure, and neither do we. The lapped ends 
can be held in place by a stitch, taken in less time than it takes to 
make a wooden peg. The ends can be prevented from " bulging," 
by a very simple and easy method, which is practiced by Morris 
Terry and C. L. Terry, two of the best of our Waterville growers, 
and by others, to my knowledge. Commencing at the end to sew 
up the main seams, and having made the twine fast with a knot, 
holding the two edo^es together, at the end ; then instead of pro- 
ceeding with that seam, the twine is carried straight across the 
end of the bale, and made fast to the edges of the other main seam, 
and that seam sewed up. When the other end of the bale is 
reached in sewing, the twine is carried across that end in the same 
way, so that both ends are securely prevented from bulging when 
the bale is removed from the press. This does away with all need 
of pins, and the practice cannot be too highly recommended, be- 
cause, in the first place, it is honest, and again, with no pins and 
with no more sacking than is needed, (if seven pounds is to be 
allowed as tare, then fourteen feet in length, of one and one-half- 
pound sacking, weighs just seven pounds), we may challenge the 
world to produce a bale equal in workmanship to the American 
bale of hops. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



COST OF RAISING — PRICES. 

IN the winter of 1878-79, the Waterville Grange appointed 
three committees to ascertain and report independently the 

actual cost of raising hops, per acre and per pound. 

Mr. C H. Curtis, chairman of one of the committees, made the 
following report : 

"Actual cost of raising one acre of hops, 778 hills, seven by 
eight feet apart, yielding 1,000 pounds : 

1,556 poles at II cents each, ^171.16. 

Interest on same at 7 per cent., ^11 98 

Depreciation of poles, 10 per cent., 17 12 

Interest on land, |ioo per acre, 7 00 

Taxes, |i.oc, fertilizers and cartage, I7.00, ... 8 00 

$44 10 

18 days' work, maa or team, cultivating, hoeing 

and grubbing, $18 00 

Picking ST)}4 boxes, at 50 cents per box, .... $41 67 

Tending box, 8 34 

Emptying boxes and superintending yard, ... 2 25 

Teaming, 2 50 

Dryer and assistant, two kilns per day, 4 00 

Coal, I2.00, brimstone, 30 pounds, at |i. 05. ... 305 

Pressing five bales, i 25 

Depreciation of kiln, cloth and sacks, 80 — 63 86 

Use of hop-house costing |8oo, 5 33 

Insurance on hop-house and hops, 30 days (hops 

being 10 cents per pound), i 50 

35 pounds sacking, at 8)4 cents per pound, ... 2 98— 9 81 

I135 77 
Making the actual cost of growing, $135.77 per acre of 1,000 

pounds, or a little more than thirteen and one-half cents per 

pound. 

Mr. A. G. Havens, chairman of another committee, on the basis 

of 800 pounds per acre, found the actual cost in his case to be 

(107) 



io8 

twelve and one-fifth cents per pound, without the items of in- 
surance or sacking. Mr. G. N. Locke, chairman of the third 
committee, in estimating his land at $80 per acre, and with no 
charges for fertiHzers, reports the actual cost of his hops at twelve 
and one-quarter cents per pound. The committees were composed 
of prominent hop growers, men of sound judgment, and their re- 
ports are based entirely upon their experience during the last 
year or two." 

This, it must be remembered, was four years ago. Since then, 
there has been a decided advance in the cost of poles, land, labor, 
and fertilizers. Now, in 1883, the cost of these four items has in- 
creased, on an average, fifty per cent., and by making the proper 
additions to the foregoing estimate, we find the cost of producing 
a pound of hops in New York State, ready for sale, to be between 
fourteen and one-half and fifteen cents, when the yield is 1,000 
pounds to the acre. 

This also appears to be the correct figure, from the following 
record of actual expenses, made by a grower, near Waterville, on 
his crop of 1882, with a yield of 1,200 pounds to the acre. 

Manuring, I25 00 

Setting poles and grubbing, 8 cx) 

Plowing, 2 00 

Tying, 5 00 

Picking, 1,200 pounds, 60 00 

Field help, picking, 16 00 

Drying, 1,200 pounds, 9 00 

Baling, 3 00 

Baling cloth, 3 60 

Twine, 30 

Interest on I500 capital in land and poles, 30 00 

Shrinkage on poles, 7 50 

Rent of buildings, 9 00 

Total, , 1178 40 

Or, a fraction less than fifteen cents per pound. 

PRICES. 

I can give no more accurate statement of prices obtained by the 
best New York State growers, than to give a table of the actual 



I09 



sales ol Perry S. Risley, Esq., of Waterville, obtained from him 
by Prof. George R. Cutting, and published in the Utica Mor7iing 
Herald y under date of August 21st, 1882 : 

Years. Selling Price. 

Crop of 1865, 50 cents. 

1866, 

1867, 

1868, 

1869, 



1870, 
1871. 
1872, 

1873, 
1874, 

1875, 
1876, 

1877, 
1878, 

1879, 
1880, 
1881, 



55 
60 
20 

25X 

17^ 

55 

45 

42 j^ 

45 

13 

36 

II 

^1% 

40X 

25M' 

30X 



General average for seventeen years, thirty-four and one-eight 
cents, nearly. 

Mr. Risley's figures make a very good representative table of 
those large growers, of this section, who always put on the market 
a prime quality of hops. The sales do not run down to the five 
cent sales, that many a hop-grower remembers, nor up to the ex- 
treme sixty-five and seventy cents sales, of which some love to 
tell. 

Mr. Risley sold his 1882 crop early, at fifty cents, which brings 
his average price, for the past eighteen years, at a little over 
thirty-five cents per pound. Most of our growers sell their hops 
soon after they are baled, and find that in the long run of one 
year with another, they get better prices than the " holders," who 
raise hops " to keep." 

The past ten years, compared with the previous ten, show an 
advance in prices. For comparison, I will take the first ten years 
previous to the war of 1861, and compare the prices of best hops 
for that period, with those obtained during the first ten years. 



no 



ending 1880. The month of February in each year, is allowed 
by all hop men to be the best medium or average month for 
prices. We find that the highest price in New York city, in 
February of each year, for these two periods of ten years each, 
was as follows, for best hops : 



1853, 23 cents. 

1854, 45 

1855, 35 " 

1856, 10 

1857, 10 

1858, 10 " 

1859, 18 " 

i860, 16 

1861, 32 

1862, 23 " 

Average price for the ten 

years, 22 " 



1871, 12 cents. 

1872, 65 

1873 45 

1874, . . . • 40 

1875, 43 

1876, 17 

1877, 20 

1878, 13 

1879, 15 

1880, 35 

Average price for the ten 

years, 30)4 " 

Here we have the average from the crop of 1870 up to that of 
1880, eight and one-half cents per pound more than the returns, 
from the crop of 1851 up to that of 1 861, or an advance of forty 
per cent, in favor of the prices obtained during the late ten years. 

EXTENSIVE HOP GROWERS IN NEW YORK STATE, 1883. 

William P. Locke, Waterville, 168 acres in bearing. 

John J. Bennett " 125 " " 

Hanover Farm, (T. W. Conger & Co.) Waterville, 75 " " 
Ira & A. J. Luce & Co., Oneida, (150 acres in 

Canada), 173 

A. W. Ferguson & Son, Malone, 125 " " 

E. Meeker & Co., Puyallup, Washington Territory, 186 " " 




S/©- 




CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE PRESERVATION OF THE HOP IN WATERVILLE, 
NEW YORK. 

'AVING been advised by Mr. Meeker that any account of 
the hop industry in New York State, would be incom- 
plete without a statement of the means employed for 
the preservation of the hop by the New York Hop 
Extract Company, at Waterville, I present the following facts : 

The object of preserving the hop for a term of years, is to 
carry the surplus of a good crop over to meet the deficiency of a 
bad crop, and to carry over this surplus in good coiiditiori. It will 
be carried over any how, either in good condition or bad. No 
hops are ever thrown away. The surplus stands around, as long 
as hops are low, year after year, kicked and despised by every- 
body ; but whenever we reach a year or two of high prices, then 
every bale of old hops is brought out and used. To-day, March 
15th, 1883, there is scarcely a bale of old hops to be bought in the 
United States. The brewer does not like to throw all these old 
stems and leaves in his beer, but in a year of scarcity he has to 
take what he can get. 

Now, by going in and preserving the surplus hops when they 
are plenty and low, we make it then the better for the grower ; for 
the price, low as it may be, is the better for the fact that we are 
buyers. When hops are low, our buying hops favors the grower 
when he needs it, and the brewer is getting all the hops he can 
use at a very low price, already. 

When hops go high, then this stock of hops, kept fresh by us, 
favors the brewer by doing its share towards keeping down extrav- 
agantly high prices. 

But these extravagantly high prices are just what hurts the 
regular grower in the end, worse than it does the brewer. 

When hops go very high, everybody who can, rushes into rais- 
ing hops. A large surplus is produced. The brewer can use but 

(III) 



112 



SO many each year, no matter how cheap. The surplus is spoil- 
ing, and goes begging for a buyer. Down go the prices below 
the cost of raising. The grower has to plow up his hops, or 
become bankrupt. The acreage is reduced. A failure of the 
crop occurs. The grower gets a good price, but generally has 
but few hops. The brewer has to pay a great price, and use up 
all the old hops at thai. 

So it goes, with everybody dissatisfied and wishing hops would 
be more regular in price. It tends strongly to make the price 
more regular, to preserve the hops when there is a surplus. 

All attempts to preserve the hop in bales, have failed to succeed 
to any practical extent, because the hops are so bulky, that with- 
out too much expense and trouble, it is impossible to get the air 
out of the bales in the first place, and to prevent more getting in ; 
and it is the oxygen of the air which oxidizes and injures the aro- 
matic oil and hop resin — the lupuline or " flour " of the hop — 
which is its valuable part. Now by taking out this lupuline, and 
putting it up in air-tight tin cans, we get the whole value of the 
hops into small bulk, and into such compact shape, that it cannot 
possibly contain any air, and no air can by any possibility pene- 
trate into it, and it keeps perfectly fresh for years. Thirteen years 
is as long as we can swear to, for that is as long as we have been 
making it. After this extract is taken out of the hops, the spent 
hops are thrown out and sold for manure, and we have left the 
whole practical virtue and value of the hops in about one-twen- 
tieth the bulk, and one-twelfth the weight of the raw hops, with 
all their stems, seeds and leaves. 

In this way we have extracted and preserved over 2,000,000 
pounds of hops, mostly in the low years of 1877 and 1878, when 
we ran our works night and day, but our capacity was too small 
to meet our subsequent sales ; and the licensee, J. R. Whiting, has 
just now erected, in Waterville, the third factory we have been 
obliged to build, from time to time, to meet the increasing demand^ 
The new works have a capacity for extracting and preserving 
2C,ooo pounds of hops per day. We consider this very slow pro- 
gress for a record of thirteen years. But whether our business is 
built on solid foundation or not, will be best judged by the state- 
ments of disinterested witnesses.. 



113 

The English Country Brewers' Gazette, of August 2d, 1882, has 
the following item ; under the head of" Notes on Hops " : 

" Although hop extract has not been very extensively used, it 
is making its way in public favor. It would be an inestimable 
advantage to brewers, and put an end to the uncertainity of the 
hop trade if some practical way could be found for preserving 
hops so that they might be kept for some years." 

In Prof Julius E. Thausing's great work on " The Fabrication 
of Beer," (edited by Dr. A. Schwarz and Dr. A. H. Bauer, re- 
spectively, the Director and Superintendent of the First Scientific 
Station, for Brewing in the United States, at New York city), ap- 
pears- the following passage under the head of "The Storing and 
Preservation of Hops," page 247 : 

" W. A. Lawrence, of Waterville, New York, prepares an ex- 
" tract of hops which is successfully used by many brewers. One 
"pound of this extract is equal to twelve pounds of best hops. If 
"a practical method for preserving hops could be found, a method 
"by which hops could be kept unchanged for some years, the 
" fluctuations in the price would not be so great, and this would be 
"an inestimable advantage to the brewer, as it would put an end 
'' to the uncertainty of the hop trade, and would make fraud less 
" possible." 

Lest any one should question whether this hop extract is mixed, 
or in any way a substitute for the hop, I will add that for many 
years we have made, and still make, a standing offer of Ji,ooo for 
an ounce of anything but the pure hop that shall be found in any 
quantity of it, as sent out under our trade-mark, from our works. 
I hope I may be excused for making this statement, for I wish it 
distinctly understood that we do not make hops, or any substi- 
tutes for them. We simply preserve them. In this light our 
success in preserving the hop, is a matter of interest to all who 
produce or consume hops, and I have stated the above facts, by 
request, for the information of many who might otherwise be 
misinformed. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 

In concluding this treatise on Hop Culture, in New York State, 
1 beg to express my obligations and thanks to the following gentle- 



114 

men, and well-known hop -growers of Waterville : Morris Terry, 
William P. Locke, C. B. Terry, John J. Bennett, A. R. Eastman, 
H. W. Tower, Daniel Mix, Sylvester Gridley, James P. Neison, 
I. D. Brainard, A. I. King. These gentlemen and others have 
furnished me with information, valuable and reliable, because it 
comes from men generally, whose fathers and grandfathers were 
hop growers, and they have themselves grown up in the midst of 
hop fields, and in the cultivation and handling of hops from their 
boyhood. 

W. A. Lawrence. 






II 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

STATISTICS — HOPS IN ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD. 

HE old adage, " Figures won't lie," will not apply to figures 
on hops. Frequently the most wild and reckless state- 
ments are circulated through this country, in regard to 
the yield and consumption of hops, with a view to influence the 
market; sometimes in the interest of the "bulls" to raise the 
price, and sometimes to help the "bears" depress it. As a gen- 
eral thing, no reliable authority is given for the truth of such 
figures, and oftener no authority at all, but they are introduced 
by some such phrase as " It is estimated," or " It is admitted," or 
" It is believed." The question is, by whom is it estimated or ad- 
mitted, or believed? Many hop growers "take stock" in some 
of these statements and find, when it is too late, that the stock is 
good for nothing. The fact is, that accurate and reliable figures 
of the hop trade are hard to obtain, and in regard to some points, 
it is impossible. But some figures which have been carefully 
gathered and compared are often useful to enable one to detect 
the truth or falsity of the statements circulated from time to time. 
For this purpose, therefore, the following tables have been ob- 
tained directly from the Bureau of Statistics, at Washington, and 
are so designated, and others are selected from a mass of statistics, 
gathered as they appeared, for many years, in census, agricultural 
iind department reports, and in the various trade periodicals, with 
some evidence of being either strictly or else substantially and 
practically correct. 

In this respect, acknowledgments are here due to the English 
Brewers' Guardian, Country Brewers' Gazette, London Brewers' 
Journal, Maidstone Hop Growers' Journal, Allgemeine Hopjen 
Zeitung, the American Western Brewer, Wings Brewers' Hand- 
book, TheAme7^ika7iischeBierbrauer, Wells' Weekly Hop Circular, 
The American Brewers' Gazette, The American Hop Grower (up 
to 1863), The WateTuille Ti^nes and Hop Reporter, and the Utica 
Morning Herald. Tables are also taken from the English work, 
Hops ; From the Set to the Skylights, by Charles Whitehead. 

(115} 



ii6 



(TABLE I.) 



HOPS IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Hops produced in the United States, as returned by the Census 
of 1850, i860, 1870 and 1880, representing the crop of the preceding 
year. Table obtained for this work direct from the the Bureau of 
Statistics at Washington, D. C. 











Pounds, 


Acres in 


States and Territories. 


1850. 


i860. 


1870. ' 


1880, 


1880. 


Total 


3,497,029 


10,991,996 


25,456,669 


26,546,378 


46,800 


Alabama 


276 


507 


32 








157 


146 


l^ 






Arkansas 




California 




80 


625,064 


1,444,077 


1,119 


Colorado 












Connecticut 


554 


959 


1,004 






Dakota. 


348 


414 


800 






Delaware 




Dist. of Columbia 


15 


15 








Florida 


l^ 












261 


199 


2 






Idaho 






21 

104,032 

63,884 

171,113 


7,788 
21,236 
16,915 




Illinois .......... 


3,551 

92,796 

8,242 


7,254 

27,884 

2,078 


21 




69 


Iowa * • 


51 


Kansas 




197 
5,899 


396 
947 


500 


I 


Kentucky 


4.309 




Louisiana . ... 


125 

40,120 

1.870 


27 

102.987 

2.943 


296,850 
2,800 


48,214 




Maine. 


219 






Massachusetts 


121,595 


II 1. 301 


61,910 


9,895 


23 


Michigan. 


10,663 


60,602 
132 
248 


828,269 
222,065 


266,010 
io,9;2 8 


491 


Alinnesota 


30 


Mississippi . 


473 




Missouri 


4,130 


2,265 


19,297 










41 
130,428 


100 
99,469 


23,955 








Nevada. 


257,174 




New Hampshire 


59 


New Jersey 

New Mexico 


2,133 


3,722 


19,033 
















New York 


2,536,299 


9,671,931 


17,558.681 


21,628,931 


39,072 


North Carolina 


9,246 


1,767 


238 






Ohio 


63,731 


27,533 


101,236 


5,510 


9 


Oregon 


8 


493 


9'2ti 


244,371 


304 


Pennsylvania 


22,088 


43,191 


90,688 


36,995 


8a 


Rhode Island 


277 


50 


249 






South Carolina 


26 


122 


1,507 






Tennesee ...•••... 


1,032 


1,581 


565 






Texas 


7 


123 


51 






Utah 


50 


545 


322 


■ 




Vermont 


288,023 


638,677 


527,927 


1 109,350 


264 


Virginia 


1 1,506 


10.024 
44 


10,999 
6,162 


1,599 
703,277 


12 


Washington 


534 


West Virginia. 






1,031 
4,630,155 


1,966,827 




Wisconsin 


15,930 


135,587 


4,439 


Wyoming 













117 

(TABLE 2.) 

Annual Receipts, Imports and Exports, for New York City, from Sep- 
tember ist, 1868, to April ist, 1883, showing the amount sold each year 
for domestic consumption. 



YEARS. 



i868-6g 
1869-70 
1870-71 
1871-72 
1872-73 
1873-74 
1874-75 
1875-76 
1876-77 
1877-78 
1878-79 
1879-80 
1880-81 
1881-82 
1882-83^ 



I Imports 
Domestic | Reduced to | ^-r^TATQ 
Receipts. American i^^^^^^^- 
Bales.* I 



Exports. 



For 
I Domestic 
Consumption 



166,920 
102,027 
67,799 
29,1 21 
23,781 
24,550 
44,086 
84,138 
84,358 
138,160 
93,480 
82,608 
96,988 
93,605 
57,808 



^i8 



5,800 
20,885 
13,444 



2,772 
2,094 
2,708 
7,297 



167,756 

102,027 
67,799 
40,721 
65,551 
51,438 
44,086 
84,138 
84,358 

138,160 
93,480 
88,152 

101,1 76 
99,02i 
72,402 



69,463 

56,453 

24,577 

6,095 

9,315 

1,638 

15,995 

46,1 16 

44,493 
78,949 
34,749 
43,954 
43,027 
30,015 
35,606 



98,293 

45,574 
43,222 
34,626 
56,236 
49,800 
28,091 
38,022 
39,865 
59,211 
58,731 
44,198 

58,149 
69,006 
36,796 



* Each imported bale counted as 
f March 31st. 



of American weight, in making up the totals. 



(TABLE 3.) 

Exports of Hops from the United States, for sixty-two years, previous 
to 1882, from official reports. 



YEARS. 


Pounds. 


Dollars. 


YEARS. i Pounds. 


Dollars. 


1820-21 . . 


319,501 


$18,498 


1851-52 . . 238,008 


$69,042 


1821-22 . 




283,200 


23,025 


X852-53 




245,647 


40,054 


1822-23 . 




249,927 


27,124 


1854 • ■ 




260,026 


63,673 


1823-24 . 




389,788 


81,810 


1855 • 




4,021,816 


1,310,720 


1824-25 . 




1 17,623 


13,865 


1856 . . 




1,048,515 


146,966 


1825-26 . 




388,718 


100,668 


1857 . 






924,538 


84,852 


1826-27 . 




88,460 


8,284 


1858 . 






458,889 


41,704 


1827-28 . 




375,058 


25,432 


1859 • 






587,953 


5.3,016 


1828-29 . 




128,482 


6,917 


i860 . 






273,257 


32,866 


1829-30 . 




383,060 


30,312 


1861 . 






8,835,837 


2,006,053 


1830-31 . 




265,043 


26,664 


1862 . 










1831-32 . 




184,729 


25,448 


1863 . 






4,415,400 










1832-33 . 




468,798 


92,963 


1864 . 






5,081,800 










1833-34 • 




91 7,600 


164,577 


1865 . 
















1834-35 ■ 




625,684 


90,720 


1866 . 




















1835-36 . 




207,548 


25,886 


1867 . 




















1836-37 . 




1,096,428 


89,705 


1868 . 




















1837-38 . 




854,106 


53,602 


1869 . 












1,627,248 


1838-39 . 




747,164 


72,425 


1870 . 












2,515,734 


1839-40 . 




82,086 


11,235 


1871 . 












316,288 


1840-41 . 




176,619 


28,823 


1872 . 












408,305 
















Bales. 




1841-42 . 




339,181 


36,547 


1873 . 






8,637 


272,403 


1842-43 . 




1,182,565 


123,745 


1874 . 






15,115 


27,973 


1843-44 . 




664,363 


51,550 


'^75 . 






30,466 


1,286,501 


1844-45 • 




902,072 


90,341 


1876 . 






51,074 


1,348,521 


1845-46 . 




287,754 


41,692 


1877 . 






87,613 


2,305,355 


1846-47 . 




1,227,453 


150,654 


1878 . 






63,790 


2,152.873 


1847-48 . 




257.016 


17,671 


1879 . 






68,022 


701,095 


1848-49 . 




411,164 


29,123 


1880 . 








2,573,292 


1849-50 . 


. . 


1,275,455 


142,692 


1881 . 








2,016,970 


1850-51 . 




110,360 


11,636 


1882 . 








1,456,786 



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I20 



(TABLE 5.) 

Showing the quantity and value of imported Hops, entered for con- 
sumption in the United States, each year ending June 30, from 1872 to 
1882, inclusive. 



YEAR ENDING JUNE 30th. 



1872 
1873 
1874 
1875 
1876 
1877 
1878 
1879 
z88o 
1881 
1882 



QUANTITIES. 



Pounds. 



1,999,457,^ 

5,608,902 

4,337,886 

1,170,13 

83,243 

20,177 

52,878 

"2,537 

357,273 

475,428 

874,558 



VALUES. 



Dollars. 



^'85,535 01 

I 310,627 27 

1,303,636 99 

51,746 20 

25,628 00 

10,393 00 

17,173 00 

35,494 00 

151,792 00 

111,903 00 

288,344 00 



Treasury Department, Bureau of Statistics, 
Washington, D. C, January 25, 1883. 



JOSEPH NIMMO, Jr., 

Chief of Bureau, 



121 



(TABLE 6.) 

OLD TIME PRICES 
Obtained for Hops raised and sold in New England, from 1806 to 1853. 

YEARS. 



1806 
1807 
z8o8 
1809 
1810 
i8n 
1812 
1813 
1814 
1815 
1816 
1817 
.1818 
1819 
1820 
1821 
1822 
1823 
1824 
1825 
1826 
1827 
1828 
Z829 
1830 
1831 
1832 
1833 
1834 
1835 
1836 
1837 
1838 
1839 
1840 
1841 
1842 

1843 
1844 

1845 
1846 

1848 
1849 
1850 
1851 
1852 
1853 







Average 




Bales. 


Pounds. 


Price 
1 in Cents. 


Value. 


gio 


378,221 


■ 15 


$41,733 15 


1,167 


369,496 


1 1 


40,644 56 


1,071 


322,976 


10 


32.297 60 


993 


280,063 


10 


28,006 30 


1,124 


299,500 
416,050 


27 


80,865 00 


1,519 




31,203 75 


1,267 


322,913 


1 1]^ 


40,364 12 


967 


243,242 


22 


53,513 24 


767 


179,640 


25 


44,910 00 


1,434 


331.673 


30 


99,501 90 


1,336 


286,374 


32 


91,957 68 


3,087 


729,862 


34 


248,153 08 


2,709 


616,366 


14 


86,291 24 


2,834 


656,902 


5 


32,845 10 


3,555 


782,663 


^'A 


50,873 09 


2,659 


561,063 


7]A 


42,079 72 


2,810 


548,709 


1014 


57,614 44 


2,936 


618,444 


20 


123,688 80 


2,720 


575,030 


loy. 


60,378 15 


3,054 


621,241 


15 


93,186 15 


2,134 


409,007 


15 


61,351 05 


3,766 


752,140 


7 


52,649 80 


3,391 


678,410 


6 


40,704 60 


3,179 


632,806 


5}4 


53,788 51 


3,874 


769,456 


II 


84,640 16 


3,691 


730,736 


loH 


73,439 46 


3,179 


606,602 


23^ 


142,551 47 


5,839 


1,136,134 


16 


181,781 44 
164,423 86 


6,151 


1,174,599 


M 


4,936 


963,238 


9M 


91,507 31 


7,608 


1,441,936 




108,145 20 


5,197 
3.562 


940,857 


6 


56,451 42 


663,766 


15 


99,564 90 


2,390 


452,225 


15 


67,833 07 


2,892 


534,404 


30 


160,321 20 


2,948 


564,917 


I 21^ 


70,614 62 


4-543 


922,932 


8 


73,834 56 


3,329 


640,085 


6 


38,405 10 


4,060 


773,362 


9 '2 


73,469 39 


3,158 


603,763 


I 5 


90,564 40 


5,625 


911,768 


8 


72,941 44 


3,528 


697,439 


6 


41,846 34 


3,680 


745,916 


7 


52,214 12 


4,320 


707,856 


12^ 


88,482 00 


2,777 


528,685 


25 


107,164 50 


2,678 


537,668 


25 


109,417 00 


4,388 


839,723 , 


20 


167,964 60 


3,496 


640,076 


30 1 


192,022 80 


149,238 


30,941,902 


$3,998,224 02 



The average price of hops, per pound, for the forty-eight years is i2fc. 
The whole amount of hops grown in the United 
States, for the year 1849, as computed in the cen- 
sus returns of 1850, is 3,497,029 pounds. 

New England raised 707,743 pounds. 

New York raised 2,536,299 " 

3,244,042 

Balance for other States 252,987 



122 



(TABLE 7.) 

A Table showing the average value of Hops in the New York Market, 
each year, with lowest and highest price, 1817 to 1867. 



j 


LOWEST PRICE. 


HIGHEST 


PRICE. 








! 






AVERAGES. 












1 


Cents. 


Month. 


Cents. 


Month. 




1817 


so 


November 


40 


July 
November 


31^ @ 35 

17% " 18K 


1825 


13 


February 


25 


1826 


10 


October 


25 


January 


i6J4 - 17 


1827 


8 


November 


18 


J anuary 


13 " 14 


1828 


5 


May 


10 


November 


^Ye " 6^ 


1829 


4 


August 


II 


October 


7^4 " 7% 


1830 


10 


J anuary i 


15 


February 


12 ''14 


I83I 

1832 


8 


August 


17 


March 


II "12 


12 


January 


37 


December 


17 " 20 


1833 


17 


October 


38 


June 


27 " 291^ 


1834 


IC 


May 


20 


January 


m3^ " 15^ 


1835 


II 


Pebruary 


19 


May 


14 "15 


1836 


9 


December 


17 


August 


I2j^ '' IAY^ 


1837 


5 


August 


9 


March 


7 " 8 


1838 


4 


April 


17 


December 


7H' ' 9% 


1839 


15 


June 


18 


December 


15K " 16^2 


1840 


18 


J anuary 


62 


July 


36 " 39 


1 841 


12 


July 


40 


February 


223cC " 26 


1842 

1 843 1 


12 


November 


16 


anuary 


13 "14 


6 


November 


12 


anuary 


81^ / II 


1844 


7 


January 


15 


December 


8 " 9H 


1845 ' 


12 


June 
November 


33 


December 


13^ " 16'^ 


1846 1 


II 


35 


January 


17 , " ^^y^ 


1847 j 


9 


January 
November 


15 


fceptember 


Wa "II 


1848 ' 


3 


7 


April 


4^ " 5% 


1849 

1850 ! 


6 


October 


17 


December 


8 " 954 


8 


November 


19 


April 


12^ " 15 


1851 1 


24 


May 


63 


July 


35 " 40 


J 852 


17 


November 


47 


August 


29 " 3214 


1853 1 


17 


July 


50 


December 


24 " 29 


1854 


22 


August 


46 


January 


32K " 35 


J855 1 


5 


December 


27 


. uly 


16% " 2x14 


1856 


6 


July 

December 


13 


anuary 


614 " 9 


1857 


5 


12 


April 


61^ - 10I4 


1858 ....... 


4 


June 


10 


January 


5 " 8 


1859 


8 


December 


18 


April 


9 " MM 


i860 


6 


July 


38 


November 


10 " 21 


1861 


13 


November 


1 32 


March 


17 " 24 


1862 


12 


May 


1 23 


February 


14 "19 


1863 


15 


August 


30 


December 


19 " 25 


1864 


20 




52 










1865 

I 866 


30 
50 
40 




40 
60 












J867 




65 











From American Hop Grower^ 



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(TABLE II.) 

The Acreage of Hop-land and Average Yield, in England, from 1808 to 
1861, — From Hops, from the Set to the Skylights. 



Year. 


Acres. 


Old Duty. 


Average 
yield per acre. 


1 

Year. Acres. 1 Old Duty. 

1 ! 

! i 


1 Average 
yield per acre. 




1808 


38,436 


) 
251,089 


cwts. 


qrs. lbs. 

2 2% 


1836 


£ 
55,422 200,332 f 


cwts 


qrs. lbs. 
1 26I4 




1809 


38,357 


63,952 




3 


I 


17^ 


1837 


56,323!i78,578 




6 


2 


6% 




1810 
1811 


38,265 
38,401 


73,514 
157,085 


J2^ 
go 


3 
8 


3 

I 


25% 

24J^ 


1838 
1839 


'55,045 171,556 
'52,305 205,556 


^1 


6 
8 


I 



22 
15 




1812 


38,700 


30,561 


ill 

: « % 




2 


15 


184044,085 34,091 


1 S "^ 


1 


2 


8 


i 


1813 
1814 
1815 
1816 

181 7 
1818 


39,521 
40,575 
42,150 
44,219 
46,293 
48,593 


131,482 
140,292 
123,878 
46,302 
66,522 
199,465 


2 

8 


3 



3 
I 


151J 

173/J 

9H 

19^ 

2 754 


1841 

!i842 
1843 
1844 

1845 
1846 


45,769 146,159 1 

43,7201169,776 

1 i 
43,156 133,508 

44,485 140,322 

48,058 158,003 

51, 948*242,929 1 


! >>i2 

u 3 

P. C 
rt 


6 
8 
6 
6 
6 
9 


2 


I 
2 
3 
2 


1 1 

4 

16 
3 
6 

20 




SI 


1819 51,014 

1 

1820 50,048 


242,076 
138,330 


1 a 

"rt 




3 
3 


8J^ 
25 


1847 
1848 


52,328 215,805 
49,232 212,416 


"rt 


8 
8 


2 
3 


6 
20 


1821 45,662 


154,609 1 


iS 







1^4 


1849 


42,798| 79,791 L 





3 


3 


12 


>» 
^ 
^ 


1822 43,776 

1823 41,458 


203,724 
26,057 


i 




2 

I 


■3 


1850 
1851 


43, 127*232, 576 r 

43,244 129,580 




1 1 
6 






18 
22 


1 

3 


1824 43,419 


148,832 


1 1 X. 







1 1 


1852 


46,157 244,866 


^ ,^ 


9 


3 


15 


^ 


1825 46,718 

1826 50,471 


24,317 
269,331 


! u 


1 1 






85^ 

5^ 


1853 
1854 


49,367 152,677 
53,825 47,369 


^17 


5 

I 


3 
2 


I 
15 


% 



1827 49.485 

1828 48,365 

1 


140,848 
I 72,027 






3 

1 




1855 
1856 


57,757 398,635 
54,527 266,899 


>• > 


12 
9 


3 



12 
16 


5 
> 

rt 

C 
< 


1829 46,135; 


39,366 


-§;- 




I 


'^ 1 


1857 


50,974 228,294 1 


1 S 


8 


I 


12 


I 830 46,726 

1831 47,129, 

1832 47,101 


88,047 
174,864 
139,018 


a _ 




3 
2 



20 

I2l^ 


1858 

1859 
i860 


47,601 254,001 
45,665 323,070 
46,271 53,485 j 


4) rt 

^ i 

1 p. rt 


9 

[3 

2 


3 
I 



19 
15 
17 


1833 49,187' 


156,905 


1 ^ ,. 




2 


1^?^; 


1861 


47,941 114,701 j 


iM 


4 


I 


23 




1834 51,263 


189,713 




2 


18 




....... 


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1835 53,8i6j 

1 


235,207 L 


|H 


9 





1 


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127 



(TABLE 12.) 

The amount of Old Duty paid in England, from 1714 to 1807. 



Acres. Old Duty. 



£ 
M,457 
44.975 
20,354 
54,669 
15,005 
90,317 
38,169 
61,362 
49,443 
30,279 



61,271 
6,526 
85,013 
69,409 
41,494 
46,441 
44,419 
22,600 
35,135 
70,000 
37,416 
42,745 
46,462 
56,492 



86,575 
70,742 
37,875 
65,222 
45,550 
61,072 
46,708 
34,635 
91,879 
60,000 
87,000 
36,305 
65,000 
73,954 



79,000 

81,000 

1 1 2,000 

^^'57 

48,106 
69,713 
72,896 

42,115 



Old Duty 
Average. 






«?-."- 



%'^ 






V (X 



P w G S 
!> rt > S 



Ml) « t^ 
> w C -P 



YEAR. 



1760 
1761 
1762 
1763 
1764 
1765 



1766 
1767 
1768 
1769 
1770 
1771 
1772 
1773 
1774 
1775 
1776 
1777 
1778 
1779 



1780 
1781 
1782 
1783 
1784 
1785 
1786 
1787 
1788 
1789 
1790 
1791 
1792 
1793 



1794 
1795 
1796 
1797 
1798 
1799 
1800 
1801 
i8o2 

1803 
1804 

1805 
1806 
1807 



Old Duty. 



£ 
117.992 
79,776 
79,295 
88,315 
17,178 
73,778 



116,445 

25,997 

1 14,002 

l6,20I 

101,131 

33.143 
102,653 

45,847 
138,887 

41,597 
125,691 

43,581 
159,801 

55,800 



122,724 

120,218 

14,895 

75,716 

94,359 
112,684 

95,973 

42,227 
143,168 
104,063 
106,841 

90,059 
162,112 

22,619 



203,663 
82,342 
75,223 

157,458 
56,032 
73,279 
72,928 

241.227 
15,463 

199,205 

177,617 
32,904 

153,102 

100,071 



Old Duty 
Average. 












n >. i 



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t) i; rt o 
1) ^<lj n 



^ . c 
^ b j5 '-' 



128 



(TABLE 13.) 

Imports of Foreign Hops into England, with Values. 



YEAR. 


Cwts. 


Value. 


YEAR. 


Cwts. 


Value. 


1840 . 


107 




i86i . . 


149,176 


£657,763 


i84i . 




34 














. 


1862 . . 


133,791 


ri'^l^ 


1842 . 

1843 • 




















1863 . . 


147,281 


626,660 




28 
















1864 . . 


98,656 


549,863 


1844 . 




267 
















1865 . . 


82,479 


459,157 


1845 . 




726 
















1866 . . 


85,687 


567,760 


1846 . 




3,283 [ 
















1867 . . 


296,1 1 7 


1,626,941 


1847 . 




1,471 
















1868 • • 


231,720 


689,383 


1848 . 




385 
















1869 . . 


322,515 


1,098,475 


1849 . 




5,265 
















1870 . . 


127,853 


428,525 


i8?o . 




6,479 ! 
















1871 . . 


2i 8,664 


895,895 


1851 . 




462 
















1872 . . 


135,965 


679,276 


1852 . 




309 i 
















1873 . . 


j 122,729 


602,914 


1853 . 




42,344 
















1874 . . 


145.994 


929,641 


1854 • 




119,040 £1 


133,644 


1875 • ■ 


! 256,444 


1,188,054 


1855 . 




24,662 ; 171,955 


1876 . . 


167,366 


763.440 


i8?6 . 




15,987 


39,967 


1877 . . 


! 250,039 


1,1 70,621 


1857 . 




18,711 


54,965 


1878 . . 


168,834 


631,567 


1858 . 




13,000 


36,618 


1879 . . 


262,765 


4,217,938 


1859 . 




2,220 1 4,991 


1880 . . 


196,688 


1,217,938 


i860 . 




68918 cfiS r.r>T 








_ 




_^ 


_ 


__ 


„ 











.. 







(TABLE 14.) 

A Return, showing the various countries from which hops have been 
imported, during the five years ending with 1879, and the quantities 
from each country. 



Name of Country. 


1875. 


1876. 


1877. 


1878. 


1879. 


Annual 
Average 
Amount 
from each 
Country. 


Total 

Annual 

Average 

Amount for 

five years. 


America 

France 

Belgium 

Holland 

Germany 

Other Countries, in- 
cluding British N. 
America .... 


Cwts.* 

42,405 
3,862 
95,557 
22,598 
91,752 

270 


Cwts. 

67,752 
2,021 

46,543 
9,541 

40,761 

748 


Cwts. 
116,888 
3,404 
58,991 
1 1,801 
55,821 

3,134 


Cwts. 
96,603 
4,161 
29,124 


Cwts. 
108,306 
9,234 
63,485 
26,796 
50,567 

4,377 


Cwts. 
86,391 
4,536 
58,740 
17,338 
52,153 

1,931 




Total of each year, 


256,444 


167,366 


250,039 168,834 


262,765 




221,039 



129 



(TABLE 15.) 



Average Cost of Raising an Acre of Hop-land in 
England. 

£ s. d. 

Plowing, subsoiling, and preparing the land, 3 5 o 

Manure, 30 loads, at 5s. 6d., 8 5 o 

Setting out hills and digging holes, i 5 o 

2,400 sets, at 4s 4 16 o 

Planting, o 8 o 

Nidgetting and summer cultivation, 2 o o 

Stakes, or poles, and putting up, i 10 o 

One year's rent, tithes, and taxes, 5 o o 

Total cost of raising an acre of hop-land, ^26 9 o 

(TABLE 16.) 

The expense per annum, in connection with an acre of hop- 
land in full plant — that is, after the second year, is given in the 
following- table : 

Showing the Ordinary Outlay upon an Acre of Hop- 
land IN Full Plant, and Properly Farmed. 

£ s. d. 

Manure, carting and spreading, 8 o o 

Digging, or plowing and digging, i i o 

Dressing, o 6 o 

Poling, o 15 o 

Tying, '. o 14 o 

Pulling bines, earthing, &c., o 4 o 

Ladder tying, o 8 o 

Keeping land clean round hills, o 8 o 

Nidgetting and harrowing, i 17 6 

Annual average supply of poles, 5 5 o 

Stripping, stacking poles, o 9 6 

All expenses of picking, drying, selling an average crop of, 

say, 7 cwts. per acre, 12 15 o 

Rent, rates, tithes, taxes, and repairs of oast, &c., 5 5 o 

Interest on capital, say, 3 o o 

Total, ^40 8 o 

If sulphuring is done, from 30s. to 40s. extra must be charged 
per acre. If washing is done, from ^3 to £\. los. should be put 
to the annual cost. 

9 



I30 

Mr. Buckland, in 1845, estimated the cost of cultivating an acre 
of hop-land in Kent, and of getting to market a crop of 10 cwt. 
per acre, at £43. 17s. lod. Mr. Smith, stated in 1864, that the 
cost of cultivating an acre of hop-land in Worcester, was ;^22. 
IDS.; not including rents, rates, taxes, interest of money, picking, 
drying, packing and selling, and since that time expenses have 
increased. 

It may fairly be assumed that an average crop of hops, of 7 cwt. 
per acre, cannot be produced much under ^^^40 per acre, taking 
the country throughout. Those persons who are wholly ignorant 
of hops and their culture, will wonder at the exceeding cost of 
producing hops. Many hop-planters also will be surprised to 
see in black and white that they have to pay so much, for, like 
many other farmers, they are not, as a class, in the habit of keep- 
ing very elaborate accounts. Indeed, some hop-planters say, 
" It does not do to count the cost." 

(TABLE 17.) 

Current Prices in London, February, 1883. 

Kents, ;^i8 to ^25 per cwt. 

Sussex 18 to 25 

Farnhams, 19 to 25 

Country do., 19 to 25 

Worcesters, 19 to 25 

Americans, 18 10 to 22 

Bavarians, 16 to 19 

Belgians, 12 to 14 

Yearlings, 16 to 20 

Old hops — various dates and kinds, 4 to 8 8 

Note.— A convenient and practically accurate rule for reducing English quotations to corres- 
ponding value on this side, in American money, is to multiply the pounds by 4. For example, 
Americans above £18^ to £22 equals seventy-four to eighty-eight cents per pound, gross weight, 
in New York City. The exporter from the United States to England, has to deduct from this, 
the tare on sacking, loss in weight, freight, insurance, etc. , amounting, (according to various 
circumstances) to from two to three cents per pound. I'herefore, the above quotations of Ameri- 
cans in England may be taken as equal to seventy-three to eighty-five cents value for export in 
New York City, not allowing the exporter any profit. Allowing him three to five cents per 
pound profit, and margin for risk he takes, then hops quoted in London, at £18. los. to £22 
should be bought in New York for seventy to eighty cents. As an illustration of some of the ex- 
penses of exporting, take the following from the L/izca Morning Herald, of December 6th, 1B81. 

" Take too bales of American hops which must be delivered in 
England at 120 shillings per cwt., and give the charges which 



131 

must come out of this in order to show the net price at which 
they must be bought in this country. 

loo bales — 18,000 pounds less tare 8 pounds=i7,2oo pounds 

divided by 112=153 cwts. 2 qrs. 8 lbs. 153.2.8 (a), 120s., . . ^921.8.0 

Freight ^d. to ^d. and 10 per c. primage, say, }4d. 18,000 lbs., ^41.5.0 

Insurance i}4 per cent., 14.0.0 

Loss, 3 lbs. per bale in weight, (too low), @ 120s., 16.2.6 

Sampling, 6d. per bale, 4.10.0 

London commission, 3 to 5 s., say, 4s. per cwt., 30.14.0 

^106.11.6 

Gross amount as above, ^921.8.0 

Less charges, ^^106.1 1.6 

Net at highest, /814.16.6 

At exchange at highest, $4.81 to ^i, 13,919.30 

Result — Net proceeds, 100 bales hops, $3,919,30 divided by 18,000= 
21 13-18 cents per pound. 

These expenses are all placed very low, and exchange corres- 
pondingly high, in order to avoid any possible charge of exag- 
geration. There are, beside, several pestiferous charges which 
help to reduce the price received for hops on the other side, and 
which would easily do away with the odd 13-18 of a cent, 
although it is allowed to stand in our table," 

(TABLE 18.) 

Former High Prices in London, compared with the 
Present. 

In 1787, hops were worth in London, fifty cents per pound ; in 1793, 
fifty-two cents; in 1800, ninety-two cents; in 1802, sixty cents; in 1812, 
eighty cents; in 1815, fifty-two cents; in 1816, seventy-seven cents; in 
1817, $1.65; in 1823, fifty cents; in 1825, $1.15; in 1830, fifty-two cents; 
in 1840, sixty-seven cents; in 1853, fifty-seven cents; in 1854, seventy- 
nine cents ; and in i860, fifty cents. 



-2-S^ (g^V^ 




CHAPTER XXV. 

HOP AND BEER STATISTICS OF THE WORLD. 

'OPS can now be transported from one part of the world 

to another, with such speed and cheapness of freight, 

that, in hops, all the world is practically one country. 

A failure of the crop in England, advances the price 

of hops in New York and Nuremberg, on the same day as in 

London. 

A surplus of hops in America and Germany, keeps down the 
price of hops in London as well as in New York and Nurem- 
burg. 

As the price of hops depends so strictly on this law of supply 
and demand, it is natural for all who produce or distribute or con- 
sume hops, to wish to know as much as possible in regard to the 
supply and demand as each year comes round. 

How is the yield in Germany ? How in England ? How in 
America? How in Belgium? What is the stock on hand, 
unsold to brewers, from the crop of previous years? What is the 
stock on hand in the lofts of brewers ? Will brewers use as many 
hops to the barrel of beer, this year, as usual ? Has the acreage 
of hop-land increased or decreased in England, Germany or 
America? Are any new hop-raising states coming in to increase 
the supply ? Is the general consumption of hops, in beer, in- 
creasing or decreasing throughout the world? 

All these questions, and more, must be answered, and offset one 
against the other, and a general result arrived at, before we can 
give even a good guess at the price, which most hops will bring, in 
any given year ; and even then some unforseen circumstances will 
sometimes thrust themselves in at the last moment, and upset the 
best calculations. 

(132) 



133 

It is fortunate for the hop grower that the trouble and risk of 
this uncertainty in the hop trade, comes mostly, not on the 
grower, but on the dealer. If the dealers have made up their 
minds, generally, that hops will be scarce, the hop grower will 
soon find out that fact, by a lively bidding for his hops. He has 
only to take the best offer he can get, as the price becomes estab- 
lished, and, in nine cases out often, and, in nine years out of ten, 
he has sold his hops well. On the contrary, the grower who gets 
hold of some hop figures of supply and demand, and thinks that 
thereby he has the key to the whole situation, and sees a terrible 
famine in hops, just at hand — this man, in nine cases out of ten 
and nine years out often, will " get left," and his hops also, to sell 
at lower figures than when the market was first established, in 
October and November. A glance at our monthly tables of 
prices, in New York, will show this. 

Why, then, should the hop-grower pay any attention to the 
figures bearing on the supply and demand of hops ? There is, in- 
deed, very little need of it, but for the fact that figures are brought 
to him, by newspapers and circulars, which in most cases really 
mean no harm, but which do him harm all the same, when the 
figures are wide of the mark. 

The following information and tables are therefore presented as 
being the best extant upon the production and consumption of 
hops, and warn the reader that even the best are deficient in some 
respects, and are only to be used as giving a general view, and 
useful to correct other statements which are glaringly incorrect, 
of which an example is given further on. 

In explanation of the tables, it is sufficient for all practical 
purposes to reckon : 

The Hectoliter, 26)4. gallons, (of 231 cubic inches.) 
The American Barrel, 31 " " " 

The English Barrel, 36 " 
The Kilogram, 2\ pounds. 
The Centner, no " 
The Cwt., 112 '* 

The American bale of hops, 180 pounds average. 
The German bale of hops, averages twice the weight of the 
American bale. 



















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135 



(TABLE I ^.— Continued. ) 



COUNTRIES. 



North Germany 
Bavaria .... 
Austria- Hungary 
Belgium .... 
France .... 
Wurtembcrg . . 

Russia 

Netherlands . . 
Denmark . . . 

Baden 

Sweden .... 
Alsace-Lorraine 
Norway .... 
Switzerland . . 
Other States . . 

Continent . 
England .... 

Europe .... 
America .... 



■ Hop 
Consumption. 



Centner. 

150,000 

1 12,000 

98,000 

65,000 

53,000 

31,000 

25,000 

10,000 

9, 000 

8,000 

7,000 

6,000 

5,000 

5,000 

4,000 



588,000 
600,000 



1, 188,000 
200,000 



1,388,000 



Annual Beer 
Production. 



Hectoliter. 

21,1 36,000 

12,153,000 

1 2,21 2,000 

7,866,000 

7,1 25,000 

4,1 97,000 

2,863,000 

1,452,000 

1,140,000 

1,086,000 

930,000 

789,000 

61 5,000 

724,000 

533,000 



74,821,000 
39,250,000 



Annual Beer 
Consumption. 



1 14,071,000 
14,261,000 



128,332,000 



Per Capita. 

61 
426 

30 
154 

24 

212 

4 
40 
60 
67 
21 
48 
28 
30 



19 



[Note — The above Table was compiled in Europe, and is more correct for Europe than for 
America. By the Census we now know that the United States Crop of 1879, ^^^ 241,330 Centners 
instead of 155,000, as given in the above Table. Our consumption, also, is larger than that given 
in the Table. Correcting the Table for America, by the Census, the following figures are pre- 
sented, as agreeing more closely with our production and consumption for the years named.] 



UNITED STATES. 



PRODUCTION 



Crop of 1879 271,330 Centner. 

" 1880 290,000 " 

" 1881 290.000 " 

" 1882 260,000 " 



CONSUMPTION. 



Year ending June 30, i 879, 21 8,000 Centner. 
" " " 1 880, 234,000 " 

" " " 1881, 250,000 " 

' " " 1882, 230,000 " 

(Increased beer production, but hops econo- 
mized on account of very high prices.) 



According to the estimate of Carl and Homann, the world's acreage 
of hops is about 250,000 acres, with an average yield of about 600 pounds 
to the acre. 



1-.6 





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138 

(TABLE 2 1.) 

Production of Beer in the United States. 

The following statement shows, by fiscal years, the aggregate 
production of fermented liquors in the United States from Sep- 
tember ist, 1862, to June 30th, 1874: 

Fiscal years ended Barrels of not more 

June 30th. than 31 gall. each. 

1863, 1,765,827 

1864, 3,459,119 

1865, 3.657,181 

1866, 6,270,401 

1867, 6,291,184 

i868, 6,149,663 

1869, 6,342,055 

1870, 6,574,616 

187I, 7,740,260 

1872, 8,659,427 

1873, 9,633,323 

1874, . 9,600,897 

The Commissioner says : '' The foreign demand for American 
malt liquors is still increasing, the applications for drawback, 
during the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1880, upon exports made 
to foreign ports, having more than quadrupled those made for the 
fiscal year which ended June 30th, 1879." 

German Beer Statistics. 

The Augsberg Allgemeine Zeitung contains some interesting 
particulars concerning the production and consumption of beer in 
Germany. It appears that the amount produced in the years 
1877-8 was, in Prussia, 14,192,890 hectoliters; Saxony, 3,059,758 
hectoliters; Hesse, 757,377 hectoliters; Mecklenberg, 279,702 
hectoliters; small Saxon Duchies, etc., 1,528,268 hectoliters; 
Oldenburg, 107,443 hectoliters; Brunswick, 246,052 hectoliters; 
Anhalt, 209,001 hectoliters. These eight groups of States (which 
coincide with the former North-German Confederation) are 
united for fiscal purposes in a brewing excise union, the total pro- 



139 

duction within which was 20,360,401 hectoliters. For the South- 
German States, the figures stand thus : Bavaria (right bank of the 
Rhine), 12,205,377 hectoliters; Rhine Palatinate, 600,000 hectoli- 
ters; Wurtemberg, 3,879,006 hectoliters; Baden, 1,098,500 hecto- 
liters; Alsace-Lorraine, 803,106 hectoliters. This gives a total 
production for the whole German Empire, of 38,946,510 hectoli- 
ters (856,823,220 gallons). During the years 1874-5-6 the pro- 
duction was something over 390,000,000 hectoliters. But since 
1876 it has has been almost stationary, and the present year shows 
a falling off of nearly half a million. 

The Proportion of Hops used in Ale and Beer. 

In America, up to 1883, or a litde before that year, it has been 
customary to allow a consumption of hops, in beer, of about one 
bale, (180 pounds average) of hops to every 100 barrels of ale and 
beer, stamped and sold. This, at first thought, would seem to re- 
qure the ale and beer to be hopped in the proportion of one and 
eight-tenths pounds to the barrel, but the fact is, there is a very 
large amount of hopped beer, retained in the boiled hops, a 
shrinkage of ten per cent, between the boiling kettle and the fer- 
menting tub, a shrinkage of five per cent, during fermentation and 
barreling (Thausing, pages 479 and 600), a large amount spoiled 
and thrown away, drank in the breweries, etc., and hops used 
otherwise than in beer, so that the standard of one bale consump- 
tion to every 100 barrels of ale and beer, stamped and sold, in the 
United States, was a fair one and gave correct results when tested. 
But a reference to the article on " The Influence of Fashion on 
the Consumption of Hops," will show what is recently going on 
in England, and the same process is at work in the United States, 
and reducing the quantity of hops used in beer. 

Ale requires more hops than beer, and while there is more ale 
manufactured in the United States than formerly, yet the great 
increase has been almost altogether in the use of the " lager beer." 

This has tended to require a less quantity of hops to the barrel, 
than when ale was the leading drink. Again, before the great 
improvement in ice-houses and cold-air machines, lager beer 
brewers used to lay in a large supply, in the winter, of" stock " 



140 

lager, which required twice the amount of hops that is needed for 
beer brewed in spring and summer. Now they lay in only so 
much ''stock" lager as will help them through the summer, by 
using it with fresh beer, and then brew all they possibly can in 
the summer. This requires less capital, less risk, less malt, less 
hops, and the people like this light, fresh, creamy beer better than 
the old strong " stock " lager. 

Thus it comes about that though we now use twice the beer in 
the United States, that we did in 1875, we by no means use twice 
the amount of hops. Again, as in this year, 1883, when hops are 
extravagantly high, brewers will use hops more economically. 
Thausing, (edited by Drs. Schwarz and Bauer, New York, 1882), 
says: 

" Leaving out of account the strongly hopped English beers,* 
" and some very strong local beers, the amount of hops added to 
" our modern beers varies between jVo pound to ifVo pounds per 
" hectoliter, and amounts, on an average to jVo pound per hecto- 
" liter." 

This is 1 2V pounds to the barrel. After making allowance for 
waste and for the several million barrels brewed in the United 
States, all requiring more hops, we may safely say that one and 
one-half pounds to the stamped barrel, will cover our United 
States consumption of hops, at present. The present consump- 
tion of England, we may put roughly and rather high, but not far 
out of the way, at two and one-half pounds hops to the barrel 
(of thirty-six gallons). The consumption of Germany and the 
continent generally, some ale, but mostly light beers, I should 
say is well put, as per Thausing (above, and in Table 19), at I2V 
pounds to the American barrel of thirty-one gallons of 231 cubic 
inches, each gallon. 

' 2^Q pounds to 2j^jj pounds per hectoliter, are used in England for dark porter and ale, and 
so much as, and even more than 6 j^ pounds per hectoliter for the " India" ale, for transport 
across the ocean.'' (Great Britain exported in 1881, — 502,918 barrels.) 



141 

(TABLE 2 2.) 

From statistics recently published, we learn that the quantity 
of beer produced, in the countries named, was as follows: 

BARRELS, (36 GALS.) 

Great Britain and Ireland, 27,500,000 

German Empire, 24,483,000 

Austria, 7,311,000 

Belgium, 4,918,000 

France, 4,583,000 

Russia, 1,353,000 

Holland, 934,000 

Denmark, 733,000 

Switzerland, 568,000 

Sweden, 568,000 

Norway, 366,000 

The statistics refer to the year 1874, but there is good reason 
to believe that the beer production of the respective countries has 
not materially altered since that date. Only in the United States 
is there a lafge annual increase. 

(TABLE 23.) 

Beer Statistics of the World. 

Professor Thausing has compiled the following statistics of beer 
production for the year 1879: 

COUNTRIES. QUANTITIES BREWED. 

German Empire, 38,946,510 hect. 

Great Britain, 36,597,55o " 

United States, 15,400,000 " 

^Austria-Hungary, 11,184,681 " 

France, 8,721,000 " 

Eelgium, 7,854,000 " 

Russia, 2,300,000 " 

Holland, 1,600,000 " 

Denmark, 1,100,000 " 

Sweden, 960,000 " 

Italy, 870,000 " 

Switzerland, 724,000 *' 

Norway, 615,000 " 

In all, 1 20,842,741 hectoliters (2,660,000,000 imp. gallons), among 
332,000,000 people. The average consumption was largest in Bel- 
gium, 147 liters per head ; and smallest in Russia, 3 liters per head. 



142 



(TABLE 24.) 

Hop and Beer Statistics. 

The following interesting statistics relating to the hop crop, and 
the consumption of beer, are taken from Messrs. J. Barth & Son's 
recent report : 



Beer Consump. 
Cwts. 

Northern Germany, .... 146,000 

Bavaria, 123,000 

Austria-Hungary, 91,000 

Belgium, 65,000 

France, 53,ooo 

Wurtemberg 28,000 

Russia, 

Netherlands, 

Denmark, 

Baden, 

Reichsland, 

Sweden, 

Norway, 

Switzerland, 

The remaining states, . . 

Continent, .... 578,000 
England, 600,000 

Europe, 1,178,000 

America, 200,000 




Annual 

Beer Production 

Hectoliter. 

19,473,000 

12,340,000 

12,212,000 

7,866,000 

7,125,000 

3,796,000 

2,214,000 

1,452,000 

1,140,000 

1,078,000 

890,000 

930,000 

615,000 

724,000 

533,000 

72,388,000 
39,250,000 

111,638,000 
'14,261,000 



Annual 

Beer Consump. 

per Head. 

Liter. 



61 

246 (Munich 566) 

35 
154 

24 
212 

3 
40 
60 

67 
48 
21 
28 

30 
I 

118 



19 



1,378,000 125,899,000 

(TABLE 25.) 

The following table exhibits the consumption of hops in the 
countries named, during the year 1880: 



England, 

Germany, 

France, 

Other parts of the continent, . . . 
South American States and Islands, 
British possessions of America, . . 
United States 



No bales. 
. 370,00a 
. 190,000 
. 31,000 
. 140,000 
. 10,000 
. 10,000 
. 15,0,000 



Total, 901,00a 



143 

The Future of Hops. 

Especial attention is called to these facts now, to illustrate by a 
practical example, the use of the preceding tables, in correcting- 
the sensational and bogus statements which are sometimes thrust 
upon the attention of those interested in hops. Here is one of 
them as found now going the rounds in print : 

" The London Brewers' Journal ^XdX^?, : that in 1881-82 (twelve 
months) there were brewed, or produced in the various beer- 
brewing countries, 146,500,000 barrels of beer. As it is supposed 
that each barrel requires two and one-half pounds of hops, it 
would necessitate 1,831,450 bales, of 200 pounds each, to supply- 
brewers for the quantity of barrels named. This statement, if 
correct, will naturally set some folks inquiring where all the hops 
come from to furnish the demand and leave a surplus of stock on 
hand for carrying over. As beer making is on the increase in 
every part of the civilized world (as malt liquor is fast super- 
seding the use of alcoholic drinks) growers of hops need not en- 
tertain much fear that the demand will cease, but on the contrary 
must probably increase." 

BARRELS. 

Great Britain, 42,000,000 

German Empire, 33,000,000 

Prussia and North Germany, 18,000,000 

United States, 16,000,000 

Bavaria, 11,000,000 

Austria, 8,000,000 

France, 5,500,000 

Wurtemberg, 3,500,000 

Netherlands, ' 1,750,000 

Denmark, 1,250,000 

Baden, 1,250,000 

Alsace, 1,000,000 

Lorraine 1,000,000 

Switzerland, 1,000,000 

Sweden, 1,000,000 

Norway, 750,000 

Hungary, 500,000 



Total, 146,500, 



ooo- 



144 

Now, as an example, let us test these figures a little and see 
where they come out. England's largest brewing year, and 
which she has not equalled since, and shows no signs of exceed- 
ing for a long time, was in 1876. Turning now to table 10, we 
find the hops consumed in England (or Great Britian, which the 
table covers) estimated at 720,523 cwts. This is a high figure, 
and more than twenty per cent, higher than the present highest 
figure for England's consumption at the present time, as see table 
19. But, still taking the above as Britain's present consumption, 
720,523 cwts., 80,698,576 pounds of hops, while the humbug calls 
for 42,000,000 barrels (the official returns for the year ending De- 
cember 31st, 1 88 1, show a brewing of only 27,469,267 barrels) 
at two' and one-half pounds of hops to the barrel, or 105,000,000 
pounds of hops. Here, in the first item of Great Britain, is an 
over estimate, therefore, of over 24,000,000 pounds of hops as 
going into consumption, which never did. 

The second item, the German Empire, 33,000,000 barrels at 
two and one-half pounds to the barrel, calls for 82,500,000 pounds 
of hops. This we must throw out altogether, for the German 
Empire is added in twice ; once as an Empire, and again in the 
four great brewing divisions of the Empire — Prussia and North 
Germany, Bavaria, Wurtemberg and Baden. So this 82,500,000 
pounds of " double entry " hops was never called for in this or 
any other year for consumption. Adding to this the 24,000,000 
error in Great Britain, we have in these two first items alone a 
call for 106,000,000 pounds of hops, which could never be needed. 
This will answer for a beginning. 588,000 bales of American 
size, (more than the whole production of the United States for 
the past three years) here in the first two items, must be thrown 
out. Looking further down the list, we observe another double 
entry in the case of Alsace and Lorraine. Taking off the sur- 
plus down the whole column, by the aid of the facts laid down in 
the preceding pages, we bring the whole consumption of hops 
called for in 1881-82 (twelve months) down to 937,950 bales of 
180 pounds each, which agrees closely with table 19 and with 
table 25, and is undoubtedly somewhere near the truth. 

If by this example of the way to test false figures by those ap- 
proximately true, and by furnishing at least some tolerable aids 



145 

with which to do it hereafter, we shall be of any assistance to those 
interested in getting at the truth, then the trouble taken in com- 
piling and comparing these statistics will be well rewarded. 

Influence of Fashion on the Use of Hops. 

The brewing industry is not exempt from the influence of 
fashion. A careful survey of the types and descriptions of beers 
in vogue at different times, will show that fashion has had some- 
thing to do with our trade. Without going back to the olden 
days, when our Saxon forefathers imbibed freely of ale and 
metheglin made from barley and honey, without any admixture of 
flavoring herbs, we may refer to the period when the introduction 
of hops into this country gave quite a different character to the 
national beverage ; instead of the sweet and mawkish ale, a true 
beer, flavored with the aromatic essence of the hop, came into 
fashion. This took place in the sixteenth century, since when, 
hopped beers have been more or less in fashion. Towards the 
end of the eighteenth century, there was a great rage for black 
beers, and so great was it that our metropolitan brewers found 
their trade rapidly increased by the production of this article ; 
porter was consumed in enormous quantities, and it seemed at 
one time as if light-colored beers would become things of the 
past. We now know that the fashion for porter and stout is on 
the decline. Large breweries, at one time engaged solely in the 
production of these specialties, are now producing pale ale as 
well, and many brewers have altogether discontinued the brewing 
of black beers. Towards the end of last century and at the begin- 
ning of this, the taste of the public inclined to very strong ales. 
The old-fashioned stingoes and strong stock ales were consumed 
in large quantities and with thorough relish at this period, proba- 
bly because the habits of life which then prevailed, caused the 
physiques of the people to be stronger then than at the present 
time. In those days, beer was brewed regardless of cost in many 
a household, and the modern private trade brewer had scarcely 
started into existence. Gradually the taste for lighter and cheaper 
beers grew, until the year 185 1, when the great Exhibition marked 
an era in brewing, as it has done in many other industries. The 
10 



146 

splendid productions of Messrs. Bass & Allsopp, then attracted 
much attention, and from that time the taste for highly-hopped 
beers has gone on increasing until lately, when there has been an 
evident tendency to fall back again upon milder and less bitter 
beers. During the last two or three years, brewers have exper- 
ienced a demand for beers of very low gravity, and containing less 
of the flavor of the hop than was the fashion some twenty years 
since, and of course it is their bounden duty to comply with the 
dictates of fashion in this respect. We will not further refer to 
the threatened introduction of lager beer into this country, than 
to say that fashion takes strange freaks, and it will be well for 
brewers to be prepared for all eventualities. 




CHAPTER XXVI. 

GERMAN METHODS AND STATISTICS. 

LTHOUGH Germany is the most important hop-pro- 
ducing country in the world, yet, information as to their 
^^ methods, has been most difhcuh to obtain with any 

degree of accuracy. 
Nothing in print is found to inform the American reader, as to 
the cost of producing hops in the German Empire, or their 
methods ; we have to rely upon the oral statements of intelligent 
Germans, and that of travelers who have investigated these 
questions, but neglected to make a record of them. 

While the following description is known to be imperfect, yet 
care has been taken to procure reliable information, and sufficient 
to give the hop grower, of the United States, a faint idea of the 
formidable rival they have to contend with, for possession of the 
great English markets. 

In England, it has been found practicable to ascertain and re- 
duce to actual figures, the cost of producing hops, and which has 
been found to exceed twenty-five cents per pound ; not so with 
Germany. There the German farmer, or more accurately speak- 
ing, gardener, does his own labor, within himself and family, from 
the beginning of the cultivation to the end of the harvest season. 
Like the American housewife, with her poultry, who neither 
counts or knows the cost of the eggs sent to market, or of the 
chickens raised, cared for as they are by the loving hands of the 
children, and slyly gathering their living off the indulgent farmer's 
crib ; no account is made or thought of the grain that goes to 
making up the food of the noisy pets in the barn-yard. We all 
know what an immense aggregate is obtained from this source, 
and which has baffled competition. So it is with a large ciggregate 
of the German hops, where the nimble fingers of the children tie 
up the vines ; where the cultivation is carried on simultaneously 

(147) 



148 

with other garden work, and where, when harvest time comes as 
shown in the illustration, the family and friends pick the hops with 
merry making similar to the apple parings, quilting bees, or log 
rollings of the frontier life. 

The hops are usually trained on poles, though not in every case. 
Where poles are used, they are very much longer than in the 
United States, and present, when covered with the vine, a beautiful 
appearance, the little hop yards dotting the landscape frequently 
as far as the eye can reach. In other places these present an 
unbroken appearance, and look in the distance as one vast hop 
field for miles in extent. The cultivation is almost universally 
done by hand on account of the small area of each yard, the owner 
digging the whole surface over, and never putting a plow or har- 
row near the yard for the whole season. The cultivation however, 
is thorough and continuous. 

Harvest begins on the early varieties about the middle of 
August, but picking is not general, as with us, until the first 
week of September, and continues for from fifteen to twenty days. 
On account of the numerous ownership, and the great extent of 
the acreage it is always difficult to ascertain, and uncertain to the 
last, as to what the yield will be, what the condition of the crop 
or the quality of the hops. Like the American farmer with his 
hay, the German hop gardener is dependent upon the weather 
during harvest time to a great extent, as to the condition he can 
secure the crop. Frequently the vines are taken under shelter 
and there picked, but when there is wet weather the hops will not 
cure without heat, or at least very slow and not without injury. 
The German farmer is entirely unprepared to apply artificial heat 
only in exceptional cases. 

The hop houses or kilns, of which mention is made elsewhere 
are the property of dealers, and are used to complete the process 
of drying. These are of such great extent, that as many as twenty 
thousand bales have been cured, in one group of buildings, and 
under one management and ownership, in a single year. This is 
always done after the hops have passed out of the control and 
ownership of the grower 

Like all other older hop districts in the world, the German 
hops are subject to numerous enemies which frequently cause 



149 

partial failure of the crop, and in exceptional cases almost total, 
shown by the statistics, 660 pounds per acre for a full crop, while 
as low as only 167 pounds per acre has been harvested. These 
variations in yield, in their turn cause violent fluctuations, from 
the excessive price of 550 marks down to 10 per cwt., or in round 
numbers from two and a half cents to one dollar and thirty cents 
per pound, our weight. Like as in England, no certain remedy 
has been found or applied against these enemies that is effectual, 
and doubtless the soil, if critically examined, as has recently been 
done in England, would be found, as there, swarming with lice 
and the germs of other disease. 

Hops are sold in Germany by net weight, the same as they 
are in England, the weight of the baling cloth or bagging being 
allowed as tare. 

The following statement has been kindly furnished by an intel- 
ligent German, who is familiar with the subject, but whose modesty 
forbids the use of his name, in print. He says : 

" Although most hops which come to this country from the 
" continent of Europe are sold as Bavarian or Bohemians, it is a 
" fact that they are raised in many other states of the continent. 
" The principle producing section however, is the Kingdom of 
" Bavaria, where fully one-third of the continental crop is grown. 
" Next to this in importance is Bohemia, in Austria. Alsatia is 
" also quite a prominent producing country. Wurtemberg, Ba- 
** den, Galicia and Posen, (Prussia Poland) all contribute quite 
" an amount to the total. Belgium is a very important and large 
"producing country, but as the system there differs from the 
" other hop countries of the continent, it is better to treat this 
"country separately. Russia also produces a few hops, but the 
" quantity is so small as hardly to be worth mentioning. The 
" same may be said of Styria in Austria, Rhenish Prussia, Burgundy 
" in France, and a few other so-called out-lying, hop-growing 
"sections. 

" Although the land is worth much more than here, hops can 
"be raised in Germany and Austria at a smaller cost than they 
" can be in New York State, for the reason that they are culti- 
" vated in very small gardens, the average of each grower being 
" below two acres, and the work being done by the grower and his 



I50 

*' family. This even applies to the picking-, for when picking time 
" comes the growers of a village or hamlet will meet together and 
'' assist one another until the hops are all harvested ; grand-parents 
"and babies are all enlisted in service. If the weather is in any 
*' way unpropitious, the vines are cut and the hops taken indoors 
" and picked. 

" The grower does not cure his hops with the use of brimstone 
** or artificial heat. This is left to be done by the dealer. The 
"grower simply spreads the hops very thinly on a barn floor, 
"allowing plenty of ventilation, and turning them on the floor 
"several times each day, until they are sufiiciently dried to be 
"loosely put in sacks. In this shape they are bought by the 
"dealers, who own large kilns, and when brought to the kilns 
"the dealer selects all hops which are uniform as to color and 
" strength, and which are thoroughly mixed, and when intended 
" for export are cured with brimstone, using charcoal for fuel. 
"The impression prevails in Germany that charcoal is an ab- 
" sorbant of any impurities that may exist, and therefore is pre- 
" ferred to any other fuel. This system accounts for the reason 
" why such large, straight lots of German hops can be delivered 
" on a single sample. It is only proper here to state, that a great 
" deal of chicanery is practiced by many of the merchants. They 
" will use a certain proportion of fine hops from well-known sec- 
"tions; mix them with inferior sorts, raised hundreds of miles 
*' from the section where the hops are said to be grown, and they 
" have this system of mixing down to such a science that it is 
" almost impossible to detect them. 

" There are several sections in Germany where hops never un- 
" dergo the brimstone process, but are shipped direct from the 
" producer to the consumer, in the original packages. The prin- 
"cipal places where this is done are Spalt, (Bavaria) and Saaz, 
"(Bohemia). These hops always command an exceedingly 
"high price, (from fifty to one hundred per cent, in excess of 
" any others), and are really the best grown. No deception can 
" be practiced here, because when a package is baled it is im- 
" mediately sealed by the City Inspector, and a certificate given 
" of the details and marks on the bales accompanies them, and 
"no bale is accepted unless accompanied with the certificate. 



151 

" These hops never come to this country for the reason that they 
"would heat if -subjected to ocean transportation, in not being 
" cured with brimstone which is necessary for export articles. 

" The general system in Austria is the same as in Germany, ex- 
''cept that there are many instances of large yards owned by the 
'* nobility and large landed proprietors, who have them worked on 
''the landlord and tenant system, or who hire their work done. 
" As regards Belgium ; its hops may be put down as the cheapest 
" and poorest produced in the world. They are usually a large 
" thin hop which grows very prolific, and contains a smaller per 
" cent, of essential oil than any other. The system of curing (in 
''our judgment) does much to detract from their usefulness, 
*'peat or turf being used as fuel, the smell of which is ab- 
"sorbed by the hops and is never lost. This is the only country 
" where hops are graded and sold by marks ; therefore, large lots 
'•change hands before harvest and even after, without any sam- 
** pies being submitted. Most of these hops find their way across 
*' the channel to England, where they are used in connection with 
" English, German and American hops, for cheap ales and porter. 
" The annual production of the continent on a good average 
'' crop, may be called about 700,000 cwts., which is over 360,000 of 
"our bales. The system of marketing hops differs from this 
''country very slightly. The dealer buys the hops from the 
"farmer while they are on the barn floor; sacks them after pur- 
" chase, usually furnishing the sacks himself, which are weighed 
"beforehand, and the weight allowed as tare. Many hops are 
" bought by small intermediate dealers, which find their way to 
" the Nuremberg market, and are there sold by commission mer- 
"chants to exporters and such dealers as have a brewers trade. 
" In this manner the business done at Nuremberg is very large 
"during the season, and the prices are there established for nearly 
"all grades of continental hops." 

Hops in Germany. 

Among all hop-cultivating countries of the world, the German 
Empire takes the most prominent place, not only in regard to the 
quantity of its products, but also in regard to their quality. The 



5^ 



German Empire produces, at the present time on about 38,000 
hect. ( I h.=400 sq. rods) 478,000 cwts. England is the next 
following, producing on about 28,000 hect., on an average, 385,000 
cwts.; Austria, 7,800 hect., and 93,000 cwts. ; the rest of Europe, 
12,000 hect., and 160,000 cwts. ; Australasia, 250 hect., and 3,000 
cwts. 

All the species of hops cultivated on the European continent, 
may be classified, as regards their price and quality, in ten differ- 
ent kinds, as follows : 

I. Hops of the towns of Saaz and of Spalt, and the nearest situated 

principal villages. 
II. Adjoining domain of Spalt. Kind, and Saaz lands. 

III. Wolzach, Au, and smaller sites of the Spalt land. 

IV. Hallertan, Auscha red-land, Styria, and principal portions of 

Wurtemberg and Baden. 
V. Finest mountain hops, Aisch-ground, finest Polish, Alsatian, and 
Burgundian hops. 
• VI. Common, Middle and Upper Franconian hops, Wurtembergian, Ba- 
den, Polish, Alsatian, and Burgundian, and finest Galician hops. 
VII. Upper Austrian, Auscha Greenland, Lothringian, and Kannebeck 

land. 
VIII. Brunswick, Altmark, and the remaining parts of Northern 
Germany. 
IX. Northern France, Belgium, and Holland. 
X. Russia and the rest of Europe. 

These kinds reached in the last four years on the largest hop 
market of the world, Nuremberg, the following prices :* 



. Class. 


1873-4 


1874-5 


1875-6 


1876-7 


I. 


295—320 


375—380 


170 — 180 


600 — 650 


II. 


270—300 


360—380 


160— J 75 


580—630 


III. 


170 — 180 


230—280 


70— 90 


520—540 


IV. 


150—170 


250—265 


60 — 70 


450—500 


V. 


125—150 


220—235 


50— 70 


420—450 


VI. 


115—125 


200 — 220 


48— 54 


360—380 


VII. 


100— 115 


190—215 


36- 48 


350—360 


VIII. 


70— 90 


100 — 120 


22— 30 


200 — 240 


IX. 


60 — 70 


80— 90 


20— 25 


160—260 


"'.' X. 


30— 40 


50— 60 


.... 


100 — 120 


•nn Marks. 











153 



(TABLE 26. 

PRICES OF HOPS, AT NUREMBERG, FOR EIGHTY YEARS. 

We are in receipt from John Barth & Son, of Nuremberg, through the 
kindness of Conrad Seipp, Esq., of Chicago, who visited that city last 
season, of some most valuable charts, from which we obtain the follow- 
ing prices of hops in that market for the crops of each year, since 1798, a 
period of nearly a century, or back to the days when the United States 
were yet in their very infancy. The following were the highest and 
lowest prices for the crops of the years named, in German marks : The 
table represents the purchasing prices, per fifty kilogrammes, for the best 
Bavarian hops, without seal or certificate : 



YEAR. 



1798 
1799 
1 800 

iSoi 
i8o2 
1803 
I 804 
1805 
i8o6 
1807 
1808 
1809 
1810 
I 81 1 
1812 
1813 
1814 
i8j5 
1816 
1817 
i8i8 
1819 
1820 
1821 
1822 
1823 
7824 
1825 
1826 
1827 
1828 
1829 
1830 
1831 
1832 
1833 
1834 
1835 
1836 
1837 



Highest 
Price. 



138 
loi 

390 
66 

268 
50 
33 

382 

152 

lOI 

58 

M5 

230 

122 

58 

91 

lOI 

238 

269 

121 

151 

115 

330 

137 

79 

78 

40 

115 

31 

26 

360 
100 

lOI 

374 

243 

152 

60 

92 

53 



Lowest 
Price. 



138 
101 
305 

66 
268 

50 

33 
382 
107 

66 

I 06 

159 
77 
40 
51 
69 

151 

138 
46 
78 
33 

154 
79 
52 
30 
22 
62 
24 
15 
10 

183 
63 
78 

109 
57 
39 
38 
35 
45 



YEAR. 



1848 



838 
839 
340 
841 
84 2 
843 
844 
845 
846 
847 

4 
849 
850 
851 
852 
853 
854 
855 
856 
857 
858 

859 
860 
861 
862 
863 
864 
865 
866 
867 
868 
869 
870 
871 
872 
873 
874 
875 
876 
877 



Highest 
Price. 



152 

56 

91 

90 

183 

113 

228 

91 

140 

30 

88 

52 

76 

306 

85 

167 

306 

95 

113 

100 

230 

152 

485 

152 

153 

167 

160 

238 

203 

168 

226 
85 

258 
240 
232 
259 
154 
550 
300 



Lowest 
Price. 



47 
31 
75 
75 

105 
45 

138 
30 
30 
23 
43 
75 
57 

172 

45 
53 

238 
44 
69 
60 
92 

121 

205 
84 
69 

107 

122 
01 

150 
62 
43 

115 
45 

139 
85 
37 

138 
60 

250 
67 



It will be readily seen from these most interesting figures, that no com- 
modity known to the world's commerce, fluctuates so constantly, or 
varies so much in price, year by year, as hops. The above table shows 
that the highest price for hops in Nuremberg, for the past eighty years, 
was 550 marks in 1876, and the lowest price 10 marks, in 1828, per fifty 
kilogran;imes. 



Note — Fifty kilogrammes or a centner is 
cents, United States money. 



iio]4 lbs. The German mark is about twenty-iive 

From The JVesiern Brewer. 



154 

In Germany, the culture of hops has, at present, taken larger 
dimensions in Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Alsatia, Baden, German, 
Lotheringia, Saxony, Hesse-Darmstadt, and Brunswick. Bavaria 
produces, of all the German countries cultivating hops, the largest ; 
Brunswick, the smallest quantities. In several other minor 
German states not mentioned, hops are cultivated, but scattered 
to such an extent, that we may justly omit them, as they do not 
rank as hop producers. The whole area of Germany cultivating 
hops, as mentioned above, is about 38,000 hect., the annual pro- 
duction in the last few years, on an average, 478,000 cwts., or 
about sixty-seven per cent, of the whole production on the 
European continent, forty-six per cent, of the whole production 
of Europe, or thirty-nine per cent, of the whole production of all 
hop-cultivating countries in the world. 

The annual consumption of hops, in the last few years, may be 
estimated on an average at about 322,000 cwt., so that there re- 
main, in the aggregate, annually about 156,000 cwt., for exporta- 
tion. The hop trade of Germany has, therefore, for years grown 
to a large extent, and as to exportation, embraces all the leading 
countries of the world, viz.: Great Britain, France, Belgium, 
Austria, Hungary, Russia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, South 
America, and the United States. The value of hops exported to 
Great Britain, amounted in the last four years, on an annual 
average to about 4,000,000 Marks. France received from 
Germany, in the last ten years, on an average annually 900', 
amounting to nearly 3,000,000 M. Belgium, during the same 
time, annually, 8,900,000 M. Austria- Hungary, nearly 300,000 
y^, on an average in the last five years. 

Russia, over 15,000 cwt. of hops, averaging, . . . i.noopoo M. 
Sweden, about 4,000 *' " " ... 500,000 " 

Norway, " 3,000 " " " ... 400,000 " 

Denmark, " 6,000 " '' " ... 800,000 " 

U. States, " 9,000 " " '< ... 1,300,000 " 

Summing up the foregoing average values, to get an approxi- 
mate idea of the amount of money flowing annually from foreign 
countries to Germany, through the exportation of hops, an 
amount of 16,000,000 M, results, which might rather be advanced, 
as the production of beer in the above-mentioned countries is 
steadily increasing, and with it the consumption of hops. 



155 

The returns, furnished by the German Imperial Government, 
show an average, yearly export, for the ten years, 1868 to 1877, in- 
clusive, of 13,949,962 pounds, or more than half as much as is an- 
nually produced in the United States. — Allgemeine Hopfen Zeitung. 

Comparison of German and American Hops. 

BY A GERMAN AUTHORITY. 

The annual report of the Chamber of Commerce, for Middle 
Franconia, for 1879, speaking of the extension of Hop Culture in 
the United States, says : 

"There is no doubt that Hops can be produced there under more 
favorable circumstances than with us. In addition to this, American 
Hops (we have to admit this, though unwillingly) are greatly preferred 
in England to ours, and have decidedly taken precedence of us in that 
market. Taking the excellent qualities of our produce into considera- 
tion, such a result would be quite inexplicable, if it were not that the 
system of German commerce, unfortunately, has itself to blame, in part, 
for this defeat. American Hops, no matter whether of better or inferior 
quality, almost always appear in foreign markets in their original state, 
whereas, with us, parties are not ashamed to make up for exportation, 
hops of all countries and of all qualities, mixed together, often marked 
with the best brands on the outside of the bales, but containing the 
poorest kind of goods. This manipulation may bring larger profits for a 
time, but sooner or later the reaction must come, as, indeed, it has, and 
it is attended with most disastrous results, not only for those who have 
been guilty of such practice, but, what is still more to be regretted, for 
the trade in general ; for German hops are treated in England with the 
greatest suspicion. Take as a proof of this, that in the season of 1880, 
up to the beginning of April, 45,000 bales of American hops were im- 
ported into England, against 15,000 bales of German hops. 

'* Both the trader and producer should take a lesson from the present 
situation ; the former should convince himself that he can only make 
lasting customers of foreign countries, by serving them in a strictly honest 
manner,* and that, in this respect, the practice of the American is worthy 
of being imitated in German commerce, whilst the producer should learn 
that through American competition, and through improved systems of 
preservation, a barrier is placed against the indefinite extension of our 
hop plantations, unless, indeed, he wants to bring ruinous prices upon 
himself. Furthermore, it is absolutely necessary in many districts to im- 
prove the plant, and to give more attention to its better handling, both 
in picking and in drying, in order that it may retain its power of com- 
peting with others." 

*The American hop-grower, who reads the above, will see the point of the remarks (under 
the head oif " Baling") in regard to superfluous sacking, and pins in American bales. 



156 

Tricks of the German Hop Trade. 

A brewer in England, a short time ago, bought a bale of hops 
in Nuremberg, and thought he got the genuine Bavarian article. 
But when he opened the bale, a slip of paper with the name of a 
hop-grower in Eastern Prussia on it, was found. The hops had 
been sold at Allenstein, Eastern Prussia, and from there found 
their way to Nuremberg. Being of good quality, the Englishman 
sent the grower, in Prussia, an order for more hops. A still more 
striking instance of such dealings happened in Wurtemberg, 
Prussia. A brewer, of that place, was prejudiced against the hops 
of his own country. He refused to buy hops in the Allenstein 
market. He wanted the genuine article from Southern Germany. 
He bought all he needed at Furth. But what did he find one day 
in a bale of Bavarian hops ? A business card with the name of 
his next neighbor, a hop grower, whose hops he had declined to 
buy at any price. Unwittingly, he had taken them many a time 
at a fair premium, when they were sent by some Bavarian hop 
dealer. 

Acreage and Yield of Hops in Germany. 

According to the agricultural statistics of the German Empire, 
for the year 1880, there were 96,451 acres of land devoted to the 
culture of hops. Of these, 53,172 acres belonged to the kingdom 
of Bavaria; 15,551 acres to Wurtemberg; 11,100 acres in Alsace; 
ib,092 acres to Prussia ; and 6,051 acres to Baden. The remainder 
is scattered in small plantations through various other States. 

In Bavaria, 25,935 acres was the aggregate in 1850; 58,045 in 
1870; and 56,810 acres in 1880. In Wurtemberg the area in 1850 
was 1,729, while in 1880 it was 15,561. In Baden, 2,470 acres 
comprises the total area in i860, and 5,828 in 1880. In Alsace, 
only 494 acres were cultivated to hops in 1850, while the area 
thus planted had increased to 10,621 acres in 1880. The highest 
average yield, per acre in Bavaria, for the ten years between 1870 
and 1880, was 660 pounds in 1875, and 572 pounds in 1878; the 
lowest yields were 167 pounds in 1876 ; 220 pounds in 1871 ; 308 
pounds in 1879; and 413 pounds per acre in 1880. In Wurtem- 
berg-, for the same period, the highest yields were 774 pounds in 



157 

1875; 668 pounds in 1878; while the lowest yields were 237 
pounds in 1876, and 325 pounds per acre in 1879. In Baden the 
average per acre runs higher, the highest average yields being 
959 pounds in 1875; 968 pounds in 1877, and 950 pounds in 1873, 
the lowest yields being 352 pounds in 1871 ; 369 pounds in 1876; 
and 466 pounds per acre in 1879. 

The average yield, per acre, for the whole ten years, was, for 
Bavaria, 411 pounds; Wurtemberg, 529.7 pounds; Baden, 707.6 
pounds. 

(TABLE 27.) 

Value of hops exported from Nuremberg to the United States, 
for eleven years, ending September 30th, 1881. 

Years. 

1871, 186,668 

1872, 267,571 

1873, 502,568 

1874, .- 572,989 

1875, 11,571 

1876, 12,448 

1877, 1,975 

1878, 4,536 

1879, 7,948 

1880, 89,480 

1881, 88,063 

(TABLE 28.) 

Hops in France. 

Hops are cultivated in three districts of France — the North, the 
North-East, and the East. The following are the acres under 
cultivation, and the amount of the crops in the three districts in 
1877: 

Acres. Quantity. 

North, 4,200 42,500 

North-East, 3, 54° 28,700 

East, 3,610 29,300 



Total, 11,350 100,500 



158 

Most of the above crops was obtained from the following five 
departments : 

Cwts. 

Nord, 34,000 

Moselle, • . , . 21,000 

Meurthe, 6,900 

Aisne, 5,400 

Cote d'Or, 28,700 




CHAPTER XXVII. 

HOP ROLES OF THE NEW YORK PRODUCE EXCHANGE. 

,ULLY three-fifths of the trade of the United States, and 
-rir more than nine-tenths of the imports and exports of 
■M^-' hops is done in New York. That city bears practically 
the same relation to the hop trade, in this country, as does Lon- 
don to England, or Nuremberg to the contment of Europe, 
hence, any Iction of the hop dealers, of New York ctty, towards 
establ shing rules for governing the trade, ought to have great 
weight in the minds of all intimately connected with the trade, 
either as growers, dealers, or consumers. ,, , „ . 

The foUowing rules, just adopted by the New York Produce 
Exchange, though only binding as between members of the Ex- 
changcliu, If continued in force, eventually be referred to as pre- 
cedent , and sooner or later, even without lega enactments, will 
undoubtedly be adopted by the trade, generally, and complied 
with by growers and brewers. Already, several brewers associa- 
dons have endorsed them, and it is believed that the National 
Brewers' Association, of the United States, will take the same 
course at their next annual meeting. „„ o u 

The extraordinary high price, for the years 1882-83, has at- 
tracted great attention to the question of tare on hops. An 
article costing but nine cents per pound, as hop bagging does, 
and selling for $1.00, has called out a vigorous protest from 
brewers, lo poL to the fact that in no other country of the 
world, but the United States, are hops sold gross weight. The 
adopt on of Rule VI, which covers this point, has in turn elicited 
a strong opposition among growers, who point to the fact, that n 
precedfng years, they have paid ten cents per pound and sold 

''Vt' facts are submitted for the information of all connected 
with the hop interest, with the remark that this, like all other 

(159) 



i6o 



kindred questions, will be settled without referring to single indi- 
vidual opinions, but rather as based upon the final judgment of 
the majority interests at stake. The following are the rules 
referred to : 

Rule I. At the first meeting of the Board of Managers after their 
election, the President shall (subject to the approval of the Board) ap- 
points Committe on Hops, five members of the New York Produce Ex- 
change, who are known to be dealing in Hops, to consist of two brewers 
and three dealers. It shall be the duty of this committee to properly 
discharge the obligations imposed upon them by these rules, and also to 
consider and decide all disputes arising between members dealing in, 
consuming, or exporting Hops, which may be submitted to them. 

A majority of the committee shall constitute a quorum, but the com- 
mittee shall fill temporary vacancies, if requested by either party, by 
some member or members representing the same interest as the absent 
member, or members, and a decision of a majority of those present at 
any meeting shall be final. They shall keep a record of their proceed- 
ings, and a fee of ($15) fifteen dollars shall be paid to the committee for 
each reference case heard by them, to be paid by the party adjudged to 
be in fault, unless otherwise ordered by the committee — provided, how- 
ever, that nothing herein shall prevent a settlement of question of differ- 
ence by private arbitrations, or, as provided by the by-laws. 

Rule II. All transactions in American Heps only, between members 
of the Produce Exchange, shall be governed by the following rules, but 
nothing here shall be construed as interfering in any way with the right 
of members to make such special contracts or conditions as they may 
desire. 

Rule III. All Hops shall be deliverable in merchantable bales. When 
a certain number of pounds are sold, number of bales not specified, net 
weight shall be understood. 

Rule IV. When specific lots are sold by sample, or otherwise, and are 
ready for immediate delivery, any bale weighing not less than 170 pounds 
nor more than 205 pounds, shall be considered a good delivery. 

Rule V. When Hops are sold for future delivery, and the weights of 
the bales have not been ascertained at the time of sale, a good delivery 
shall be a sufficient number of bales to effect a delivery of the number 
of bales sold, at an average of not less than 185 pounds, nor more than 
190 pounds gross weight. 

Rule \T. On all Hops, an allowance of seven pounds per bale shall 
be made as tare. 

Rule VII. In the absence of any specific agreement, the seller shall 
have the right to demand payment at the time of passing the title. 

Rule VIII. Whenever sales are made between members of the Pro- 



i6i 



dnce Exchange, through a broker who is not a member of the Exchange, 
a written memorandum of the transaction, is to be exchanged by the 
principles before the sale is binding. 

Rule IX Hops sold for immediate delivery must be mspected on the 
day succeeding the sale. Hops sold for future delivery must be in- 
spected on the day succeeding the notice of delivery. 

Rule X. If, upon inspection, it shall be found that any lot, or part of a 
lot of Hops sold, shall not conform to the contract, the buyer shall take 
all that do conform with the contract, and the seller shall replace the lot, 
or part of a lot rejected, with other Hops of as good quality, and for this 
purpose the seller shall have ten days to replace and tender Hops to fill 
the original contract; but if a specific lot is sold by sample, the buyer 
shall take all which are up to the sample, and he shall have the privilege 
of taking the rejections at a reduction to be agreed upon between seller 
and buyer, or to be settled by arbitration. 

Rule XI Hops shall be weighed (unless otherwise agreed upon) by 
a city weigher, whose return shall be taken as the correct weights of 
bales • weigher's fees to be divided by buyer and seller equally. 

Rule XII. All Hops shall be removed at the buyer's expense within 
two days after receiving the invoice (weather permitting), and until then 
the seller is to hold the same, fully covered by insurance, at invoice 

value. ^ . J J 1 

Rule XIII. When Hops are sold to arrive and to be inspected on dock, 
the buyer shall, after inspection and order for delivery being given, 
assume the same relations towards the transportation line by which the 
Hops arrive, as the seller previously held as regards their removal from 
the place of delivery, within the time granted by such lines, for that 

purpose. , , 

Rule XIV. Rules III, IV, V and VI, shall only apply to the crop 

of 1883, and subsequent crops. 

Rule XV. A car load of Hops shall be understood to contain not less 
than 10,000 or more than 13,000 pounds. 

New York, March i, 1883. 
II 





CHAPTER XXVIII. 

REMINISCENCES OF PIONEER LIFE IN WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 

'INCE the beginning of this work, and during its progress 
through the press, the writer has reahzed more than ever 
before, how Httle is known of the great region now coming 
forward so rapidly in the production of hops. To answer 
the many questions which have been asked, as to the motives 
which impelled the early settlers to seek that far-off region, how 
they got there, how they lived after they were there, and how 
those early days compare with the present, the author has felt 
constrained to add some personal experience and memories of 
this great and growing Territory which is soon destined to become 
the State of Washington, bearing the proud name of the Father 
of our common country. 

Thirty-one years ago, the great flood of immigration set in for 
Oregon, of which, at that time, Washington Territory was a part. 
That section of Oregon, now forming Washington Territory, was 
the extreme north-western portion of the United States. Curious 
as the statement may appear, yet it nevertheless is true, that since 
that dme the territory has become, and is to-day, the geographical 
centre of the United States. 

No more startling method can be adopted to impress upon us 
the vast extent of this great country, than by this simple state- 
ment. Let the reader place his finger on the extreme point of 
Alaska, on the map, and then on the peninsula of Florida, and 
cast his eye on Washington Territory, and he will quickly see 
that the statement is substantially and almost exacdy true. 

If we, of Washington Territory, from the steady stream of im- 
inigration westward, are now relatively so much nearer the great 
•centre of population than then, how much more so, practically, 
one can never realize, without going over the ground, as the 
pioneers of 1852, did. 

When the writer crossed the Missouri River near where Omaha 

(162) 



i63 

now stands, nothing but a deep solitude existed, except where 
broken by the roving bands of Indians or the trains of immigrant 
wagons. We had cows and oxen for teams, and were six months 
on the way, toiling the whole summer, carrying provisions for the 
entire trip; now, one is carried substantially over the same 
ground by cars in five days. Then, when the immigrant arrived 
on Puget Sound, he had literally to "paddle his own canoe," for 
there was no other means of travel. The dense forest and al)sence 
of roads, forbade traveling by land along the shore line of. Puget 
Sound, and then, as now, the principal travel was by water. Now, 
however, there are over fifty steamers plying on that great inland 
sea, so unknown to the eastern public. Then, we could get back 
to the old home only by sail to San Francisco and by the isthmus 
steamers. Now there are a fleet of steamers, eight or more in 
number, aggregating nearly twenty thousand tons burthen, plying 
from Puget Sound to the southern coast. Then, only a stray 
vessel came to the sound for a cargo of square timber, hewn out 
with the axe, or for piles as cut from the stump. Now no less 
than two ships, for every day of the year, enter the Straits of 
Fuca, for coal, lumber, or grain. Then, to travel parallel to the 
coast to and through Oregon, the worst roads on earth were 
surely encountered; we first could go by saddle train ; then the 
mud wagon, and afterwards the stage-coach, taking nearly fifteen 
years to accomplish this much change; now one can ride in a 
palace car almost all the way from Puget Sound to San Francisco 
and within twelve months, can the whole distance. 

Then if one wished to journey directly eastwardly, he was 
compelled, in many cases to follow the bridle paths or trails with 
the pack-horse and saddle. Now the great trunk line of the 
Northern Pacific is fast approaching completion, and before this 
reaches the eye of many readers, will be an accomplished fact, so 
that by September, of the present year (1883), a passenger can 
take the cars in New York City or elsewhere, and secure a 
through and continuous passage to New Tacoma, the western 
terminus of the road, and to and through the hop regions of the 
Puyallup and adjacent valleys. 

The writer has often been asked what impelled him to under- 
take so hazardous a journey at that early date. In common with 



164 

thousands of others, the attractions of free lands, glowing accounts 
of a mild climate, the known value of near location to the sea- 
board, were all questions that weighed in the scale to make up a 
part of the sum total. These attractions still exist. Still the 
government gives the bona-fida settler the land ; still we have the 
admirable location of the finest shipping facilities in the world, and 
still that wonderful, mild climate, that although in latitude 48° N. 
and fully five hundred miles north of New York City, yet admits 
frequently of plowing in mid-winter, and sowing wheat in almost 
every month of the year. 

The climate varies greatly in different sections of the territory, 
that near Puget Sound and the sea-board being mild and equa- 
ble, wet in winter, with enough moisture in summer to always 
insure crops, neither cold in winter or hot in summer. There, 
we have near by a range of mountains averaging fully a mile in 
height, with some bold peaks running up three miles above the 
level of tide-water, as shown in the illustration, which is true to 
nature. Of course all kinds of climates can be found on these 
mountain slopes, up to the point of perpetual snow and ice of the 
vast glaciers still at work. Easterly from this range, the climate 
is drier, somewhat colder in winter and warmer in summer, but 
not to either extreme. 

The pioneer life is not that cheerless state of existence as pictured 
by many, or that of constant fear and trembling as imagined by 
others. 

The question has often been asked if there was not constant 
danger from the Indians or wild beasts, roaming through the 
forest. If it were not for the sincerity of these questions, they 
would naturally excite a smile from the pioneers, who neither 
thinks of or dreads the danger, remote and unusual as it 
is, no more than our eastern friends do of constant dangers that 
surround them every day of their life. True we have bears that 
are not caged, congers at large, and other beasts of prey not de- 
sirable for close companionship, that go where they will, and that 
make themselves very uncomfortably familiar in the barn-yard and 
pig-sty, yet, as in other walks of life, the pioneer never attempts to 
climb a mountain until he comes to it, and in common with the 
race, his courage rises with the occasion and danger apparent or 



i65 

actual, met without fear. As a matter of fact, however, there is 
scarcely any danger from either at the present time. 

The resources of Washington Territory are varied and great; 
hops are incidently only one of the many. As stated elsewhere, 
coal and lumber form two great staples for export or for home 
consumption, yet wheat is abundantly produced and largely ex- 
ported, and at this writing the building of great grain elevators is 
to begin at once at Tacoma, on Puget Sound, to accommodate 
this rapidly increasing interest. 

The manufacture of beet sugar is likely to be soon inaugurated, 
as from repeated tests, it has been demonstrated to be more prac- 
ticable than further south on the Pacific coast, where this business 
has been firmly established. Fully five thousand car loads of 
salmon are canned annually, on the Columbia River, divided be- 
tween Oregon and Washington Territory. 

The valley land of Washington Territory, suited for hop rais- 
ing is great in the aggregate, though widely distributed. It can 
never be all utiHzed, for the production would be more than the 
world's present supply, and for the further reason that it would 
be utterly impossible to pick anything near like the amount that 
could be produced. 

That the hop interest there will assume much larger propor- 
tions than at present, there is no doubt ; that the increase will be 
rapid, is equally certain; that the supply will be regular, judging 
from the past, is unquestionable ; that the quality has improved 
and will continue to improve is sure ; hence, that Washington 
Territory is destined to become an important factor in the world's 
supply of hops is a fact so well established, that all who are inter- 
ested in the production, trade or consumption of hops, will do well 
to remember. 

Conclusion. 

If, in the preceding pages, a lesson is taught that will lead to 
the production of a better article of hops; or that will point out the 
danger to new beginners, and enable them to avoid loss ; or that 
will lead to better methods of preserving and a more intelligent 
way of marketing ; that eventually will result in a steadier market, 
then will the author be satisfied with his work, which is here sub- 
mitted to the public. 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter. Pacb. 

I. Climate, Soil, Location and Formation of the Hop Region 

of Washington Territory, . . . .5 

II. First Hop Growing in Washington Territory, and Dura- 
tion of Hop Yards, . . . . .8 

III. Preparing the Ground— Method of Planting— Seedless 

Hops, ....... lo 

IV. Cultivation— Grubbing— Setting the poles— Training, . 13 

V. Indian Hop Pickers— Hop Boxes— Care of Green Hops, 18 

VI. Ripe Hops— Early Picking— Hauling— Taking Down the 

Poles— Picking, . . . . • .21 

VII. Drying— Importance of Low Temperature— Great Loss 

from High Drying, . . . . .25 

VIII. Heating the House— Curing by Current of Heated Air- 
Laying the Floor— Depth of Flooring— Sulphuring 
—Turning the Hops, . . . . .29 

IX. Baling— Mixing the Hops— Weight of Bale— Baling Cloth, 34 

X. Qualities of Hops — Storing and Preserving — Smoking 

with Sulphur— Selling, . . . . -37 

XI. Grades of Hops — Labor Supply — Cost of Production — 

Cost of Starting a Hop Yard— Profits, . . 46 

XII. Hop Houses— Method of Heating— Fan-Blast Process, . 51 

XIII. English Methods, . . . . • • 57 

(167; 



i68 



XIV. Hop Culture in the State of New York — Growth and 
Extent of the Industry — Extent in 1879 — Comparison 
with other Regions, . . . . .62 

XV. Soil and Climate of the Hop Region of the State of 

New York, . . . . . .66 

XVI. Methods of Culture — Plowing for New Yards — Roots and 
their Varieties — Marking Out the Ground, with Dia- 
gram — Putting In the Sets — Manures Used for Hops, 67 

XVII. Various Methods of Supporting the Vines — Hop Poles 
— Horizontal String Yards — Old-Fashioned " Eight- 
String Tent" Yard, with Diagram — The Modern Six- 
String Yard — The Best Pole and String Yard, with 
Diagram — Wire Yard, . . . . .75 

XVIII. Cultivation — Grubbing — Tying — Cultivation Among the 

Hills, .,.,... 83 

XIX. Picking — Standard Hop Boxes — Hop Sacks — Time for 

Picking — Setting the Boxes — Managing the Picking, 89 

XX. Drying — Hop Kiln — The Drying Process — After Drying 
and before Baling — Observations on Drying — The 
Use of Sulphur in Drying, . . . .93 

XXI. Baling, 104 

XXII. Cost of Raising— Prices, . . . . .107 

XXIII. Extracting Hops at Waterville, N. Y., . . . iii 

XXIV. Statistics— Hops in All Parts of the World. The United 

States : Table i. Hops Produced — 2, Receipts and 
Exports — 3, Receipts, Imports and Exports, New 
York City, Fifteen Years — 4, Exports, Sixty-two 
Years — 5, Imports, Eleven Years — 6, Prices for 
Forty-eight Years — 7, Average Prices, Fifty-one 
Years— 8, Fluctuations for Ten Years— 9, Average 



169 

Chapter XXIV, Continued. 

Monthly Value, Fourteen Years. England : Table 
10, Hops Grown, Imported and Consumed for Twen- 
ty-seven Years — 11, Acreage for Fifty-five Years — 
12, Average Growth for Ninety-three Years — 13, Im- 
ports for Forty-one Years — 14, Countries Imported 
from and Quantities from Each — 15, Itemized Cost of 
Planting One Acre of Hops — 16, Annual Cost per 
Acre — 17, Current Prices in London — 18, Former 
High Prices, . . . , . • 115 

XXV. Hop and Beer Statistics of the World — Tables 19, 24 and 
25, Production and Consumption of Hops — 21, 22 
and 23, Beer Produced — The Future of Hops — 
Influence of Fashion on the Use of Hops . -132 

XXVI. German Methods and Statistics — Table 26, Prices of Hops, 
at Nuremberg, for Eighty Years — 27, Value of Hops 
Exported from Nuremberg to the United States for 
Eleven Years — 28, Hops in France, . . . 143 

XXVII. Hop Rules of the Nev/ York Produce Exchange, . . 159 

XXVIII. Reminiscences of Pioneer Life in Washington Territory, 162 



List of Illustrations. 



Page 

Hop Picking in Germany, [Frontispiece), .... 

Hop Box Used in Washington Territory, . . . -19 

Draft and Fan Blast Hop Kilns, with Movable Floors, E. Meeker 

& Co., Puyallup, Washington Territory, . . to face 27 

Improved Harris Press, ...... 36 

McCabe Press, . . . . . . . -36 

Scene of a Hop Yard in Washington Territory, . . to face 52 

Wood Stove, . . . . . . . -52 

Coal Stove, ........ 56 

Diagram of Eight-String Tent Yard, . . . . -77 

Diagram of Best Pole and String Yard, . . . .81 

Hop Box, New York Standard, with Awning, . . . -89 

Modern Approved New York State Hop Kiln, . . to face 94 



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